BHOPAL:

has walked into a controversy by giving a

to Vyapam-accused Phundelal Singh Marko from Pushprajgarh constituency. He is the sitting Congress MLA, but eyebrows are raised at his renomination, considering that AICC chief Rahul Gandhi has been attacking the BJP

government

on the scam.

Congress risks blunting its own campiagn theme and may find it difficult to speak credibly on Vyapam. A week ago, it took in Vyapam-accused

leader Gulab Singh Kirar but made a U-turn as soon as some top leaders objected. The party’s defence — that it’s not Marko but his son who is an

in the CBI case may not sound very convincing to voters, who have followed the twists and turns. Marko had beaten two-time BJP MLA Sudama Singh in 2013 to wrest Pushprajgarh for Congress despite the Narendra Modi wave.

According to

whistleblower, Ashish Chaturvedi, Marko and his son were named as accused by state Special Task Force (STF). Neither has apparently got a clean chit yet.

CBI took over the probe in July 2015, and is yet to give the clean chit to the father-son duo after three years of investigation.

Marko’s son was accused of using unfair means to secure a seat in Gwalior Medical College in 2009. He was the main accused in the case and his MLA father named co-accused for allegedly financing his son to get admission through bribe, say sources.

When TOI contacted Marko to know the status of his case, he said: “They failed to present a chargesheet against me, and hence the charges were dropped.” He switched off his mobile, saying he would talk about it later. But calls didn’t get through to him after this.

When Congress state vice-president for media, Bhupendra Gupta, was asked why the party repeated Marko from Pushprajgarh when it took no time to wash its hands of former BJP OBC leader Gulab Singh Kirar, also a Vyapam accused, he said: “As far as we know, Marko was made an accused by STF but he is not an accused on the CBI list. However, even if you are right, the case is sub judice and he can’t be adjudged guilty at this point of time.”

The same goes for Gulab Singh, too. But he was taken into the party October 30 and then dropped within hours. Gupta said Congress has also fought for the cause of students and their parents, who gave money for selection because they were arrested and put behind bars but the people who actually carried out the scam were let off. “Besides, he is our sitting MLA,” he added.