BJP bid to target Cong has its own MP red-faced

Narendra’s address as provided by him was Pt Deendayal Parisar, E-2 Arera Colony, Bhopal, where the BJP’s headquarters is located. The booklet printed on a glossy paper lists more than 150 appointments during the Digvijaya Singh government but Narendra’s name has left the BJP red in the face.

“I did not hold any post then. My son applied for the ‘small post’ and got selected on merit. If the government thinks he got through illegally it should cancel his appointment. We may challenge it in the court of law,’’ the veteran leader told The Indian Express, adding that he was a full-time worker and hence lived in one-and-a-half room accommodation with his family in the BJP headquarters from 1995 to 2005.

The BJP leader, who is honorary advisor to Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, which functions under the Lok Sabha secretariat, said he was surprised why his son’s name was included in the list because the MPPEB was not involved in the appointment process.

Sharma’s equations with Shivraj Singh Chouhan are far from cordial, especially after he publicly ridiculed him as “Ghoshnaveer’’ (one who keeps making promises). He desperately wanted to contest the recent Lok Sabha elections from Mandsaur but was denied ticket. Moreover, he had recently raised doubts over the Special Task Force probe in the MPPEB scam saying that it should hand over the probe to another agency, a comment that echoed the Congress’s demand for a CBI probe.

When asked if the revelation about his son’s appointment stemmed from the intra-party tussle, he said he did not think so but wondered how the small post held by his son became a subject of media scrutiny more than 17 years later.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare objected to the booklet inside and outside the Assembly accusing Chouhan of violating the oath of office and secrecy he took while being sworn in as the CM. Katare said the booklet contained confidential government documents and Vidhan Sabha records and called it contempt of the House.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader sought disciplinary action against Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is also state BJP president, because he had released the booklet in Bhopal.