Struggle in MP
As the electoral battlefield heats up in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress finds itself locked in an uphill struggle against the formidable might of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Madhya Pradesh Congress demanded a case against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan after a video of him allegedly slapping a member of his security detail went viral on social media.
In the video, Chouhan is allegedly seen shoving a security officer to a side as they try to navigate through a huge crowd of supporters. The incident happened in Sardarpur in Dhar district during poll campaigning on 14 January.
“We demand that Chouhan be booked for hitting his securityman under section 353 (assault to deter a public servant from performing his duty) of IPC,” Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh said.
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The Congress said that power has blinded the CM. Singh said that Chouhan’s frustration due to his “failed” policies was evident in the incident.
While demanding registration of a case against Chouhan, KK Mishra, Congress spokesperson in MP, said there could not be two rules – one for the common man and another for the Chief Minister.
Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi tweeted: “The Chief Minister has slapped a policeman. Why a case of obstructing a Public Servant is not being registered against the leader of a party which keeps harping on morality?”
But the BJP claimed that the video was being wrongly interpreted.
Senior BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai said, “There was a huge crowd around Chouhan, and the securityman twice stepped on the chief minister’s injured foot. In an immediate human or knee-jerk reaction, Chouhan only removed him to protect himself and the action was never intended to hurt anyone with any ill-intention.”
The chief minister’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) did not offer any comments when contacted by PTI.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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