BHOPAL/INDORE: In a series of press conferences across Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, several BJP leaders, including central ministers, gave a clean chit to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the Vyapam scam saying there was no question of his resignation.

"For three years, the Congress is levelling baseless allegations because they are unable to fight on the ground and don’t have public support. They have failed to defeat BJP in election after election. Now, they are trying to defame the chief minister and the party," Union minister Prakash Javdekar told newsmen in Indore.

Javdekar’s Cabinet colleague, Narendra Tomar, said the party felt Chouhan proved that his intention was right by ordering investigation as soon as Vyapam irregularities were detected. "Shivraj Singh Chouhan is chief minister today and he will remain so tomorrow," Tomar said in Bhopal.

The BJP also held news conferences in Gwalior, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Sagar and Rewa, where central and state leaders backed Chouhan.

However, Union minister Uma Bharti, who is in Madhya Pradesh for the last two days, was not part of these news meets. Bharti, who visited Chintaman Ganesh temple in Sehore, said she would not speak on Vyapam scandal at all. When prodded for a reaction, she said in view of the public demand, Chouhan’s decision to recommend a CBI inquiry into the scam was right.

Bharti had stirred a controversy last week by saying that she was ‘scared’ by Vyapam deaths. "There is panic in Madhya Pradesh due to the deaths. I am scared for the lives of people connected to me. I am a minister but still I am scared," Bharti said just three days before the Supreme Court handed over the probe to the CBI.