Cong fishes out warrants against home minister

After the BJP forced Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Shibu Soren to resign from the Union Cabinet, the Congress in Chhattisgarh has opened a direct front against state Home Minister Brij Mohan Aggarwal, who is also facing arrest warrants.

The warrants were issued against Aggarwal in March 2002. As he didn’t appear before the Raipur Chief Judicial Magistrate on the last hearing on March 9, 2004, fresh warrants have been issued to him. A Congress delegation led by Leader of the Opposition Mohinder Karma, today met Governor Lt Gen (retd) K.M. Seth and sought his intervention to get the ‘‘absconding minister’’ arrested and his dismissal from the Cabinet. ‘‘How can one apply two parameters for the BJP minister in the state and a JMM minister in the UPA Government?’’ Karma said.

In the FIR, Aggarwal has been accused of getting his brother, Yogesh Aggarwal, forcibly moved from police custody after he was arrested for leading a group of agitating traders, who had broken the police cordon and entered the Assembly complex.

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Refusing to resign, the Aggarwal terms the FIR against him a ‘‘political’’ case registered at the behest of former CM Ajit Jogi.

Chief Minister Raman Singh has kept mum on the issue. State BJP chief Nand Kumar Sai also refused to comment.