MP Cong guns for tainted ministers

Before the IT raids, the Congress had maintained that corruption would be one of the issues, but not the main one, in the polls slated later this year. But, on Wednesday, after a meeting of party office-bearers, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state V Narayansami and PCC chief Suresh Pachauri announced that corruption would be the focus of the election campaign. While the dumper scam involving Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his wife Sadhna Singh was receding from public memory, the recent IT raids have given the Congress another issue to drive home the point that the CM himself was corrupt.

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s fuel price hike gave the BJP a weapon to defend itself from the onslaught of corruption charges. The party also made a feeble attempt to rally behind Vishnoi by deputing its former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa to defend him. Patwa said the minister had not been asked to resign, but had put in papers to save the party’s image. He claimed Vishnoi had offered to resign on the first day itself, but the party asked him not to. Incidentally, Vishnoi maintained on all three days that there was no reason for him to quit because his own house was not raided.