india

Updated: Sep 02, 2019 15:40 IST

A Madhya Pradesh minister’s statement that Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is running the government underlined the turf war in the grand old party in the state and gave enough ammunition to the opposition BJP which called for chief minister Kamal Nath’s resignation.

Forest minister Umang Singhar’s comment on Sunday in his home town of Dhar came after he was asked about Digvijaya Singh’s recent letters to ministers through which he sought appointments to know about the action taken on issues he had raised.

According to the letter which appeared in a section of media last week, Singh who is also a Rajya Sabha member wrote to ministers saying he had forwarded several applications to them on different subjects including transfers for necessary action from January 2019 to August 15, 2019. He sought appointment with ministers before August 31 to keep himself apprised of the action taken on the applications.

“I will only say about respected Digvijaya Singh ji that he is running the government from behind the curtain. This is known to all. People of the state know it and so do workers of the party. He doesn’t need to write a letter. When he is running the government why he should write a letter?” Singhar told reporters.

Later in the day, Singhar reiterated his stand. “I spoke the truth. What I meant to say was which minister would not take action on his letter when he himself is running the government.”

The BJP which lost power in the assembly elections last year was quick to use Singhar’s statement to attack chief minister Kamal Nath.

State BJP chief spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said, “Chief minister Kamal Nath has lost the moral ground to remain in his office. He should immediately step down from his post.”

Vijayvargiya said, “Just a few days back minister for general administration Govind Singh alleged illegal mining was going on in the state and that officers took lakhs of rupees to allow this. Now, another minister claims that it is Digvijaya Singh who is running the government.”

Senior BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai said, “The minister’s statement has made it clear that Digvijaya Singh is not allowing chief minister Kamal Nath to work and wants to ensure that the government is dislodged.”

Neither Kamal Nath nor Digvijaya Singh could be reached for comments.

Another minister said, “Since Umang Singhar has spoken about Digvijaya Singh and the government only CM can speak on this.”