By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government staff allegedly demanded bribes for reimbursing his hospital bill, revealed five-time former BJP Lok Sabha member Sartaj Singh on Monday.

The 77-year-old BJP MP from Hoshangabad said, “I was admitted to the ICU recently. My assistant took the file containing the hospital bills worth Rs 5 lakh for reimbursement to concerned government staff. But he later rang me informing that the staff demanded ‘commission’ for clearing the file.

"If it can happen to a ruling party lawmaker like me, you can very well imagine what is happening to commoners in the state. They are being exploited at every level of administration — be it by revenue department tehsildar or patwari or the officers of electricity department," alleged Singh.

In June 2016, Singh, the two-time sitting MLA from Seoni-Malwa seat of Hoshangabad, was dropped as PWD minister, along with home minister Babulal Gaur from the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in June 2016.

On Monday, Singh also announced his decision to not contest the 2018 Assembly polls in MP saying that present day politics had become too “suffocative”.

He said, "Present day politics has become very suffocative. Staying in it and contesting another election is not possible."

Comparing the 2018 assembly polls in MP to the 1977 national elections, Singh said “it won’t be parties or candidates who would contest the elections, but people will themselves enter the battle fray and speak out their simmering man ki baat. If we can’t render prosperity to people and generate jobs for the jobless, then we can’t justify being in power,” maintained Singh.

“People are losing faith in us which was accentuated by the recent by-poll results. If we don’t take urgent corrective measures in time, even PM Modi will become weaker at the center,” claimed Singh.