BJP celebrates Gaurav Diwas in MP, Narendra Modi kept away

BJP's Moderate Face

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan completed five years in office and the BJP's mega-show at jamboree ground in Bhopal saw almost all the top party leaders except Narendra Modi.

Chouhan who has maintained the image of a moderate leader in BJP just like Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and Nitish Kumar who leads JDU-BJP coalition government in Bihar, seems sending a message once again that politics of religion and communalism has no space in MP.

The BJP had won in Madhya Pradesh after Congress government led by former CM Digvijay Singh was ousted after two successive terms due to popular anger over lack of power and poor infrastructure including roads.

Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur had brief stints and once Shivraj took over he led BJP to victory in the next Vidhan Sabha election also. The BJP organised the programme to celebrate five years of Shivraj in office. Though there are murmurs of disapproval that the event is Chouhan's 'one-man-show' and there was not much reason of pride as power crisis still plagues the state.

Almost everyone including LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Venkaihan Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar were invited and they arrived for the mega Karyakarta Gaurav Diwas Sammelan at Bhopal. Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa and Narendra Modi were not invited. Yeddy is facing corruption charges.

Huge cutouts of BJP leaders are put up in Bhopal where lakhs participated in the convention but there was no cutout of Modi. This signals that BJP central leadership has finally decided not to project the personality of Narendra Modi whose brand of politics has been controversial in the past.

MP minister Paras Jain faces corruption charge

State minister Paras Jain once again finds himself in the midst of the bribery row. Food Inspector Akram Khan was asked for a bribe of Rs 1.55 lakh for transferring him. Khan had committed suicide due to the pressure on him.

The minister's PA Rajendra Bhootda had allegedly demanded the money. Khan was transferred from Indore to Bhind. Though he paid, Khan was instead transferred from Bhind to Dewas. He was not given posting of Indore.

After transfer, Akram did not get his pay for nine months. There was further pressure on Khan to pay more bribe. After his suicide, his wife Zarina fought for justice. She knocked at every door and even reached state capital, Bhopal.

The issue has now rocked the Assembly. Food minister Paras Jain has suspended Bhootda and the officer who had stopped Khan's salary has also been removed. The issue again shows that corruption plagues the state and this affects the image of the BJP government. Will Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan do a cleanup?

Babbar Khalsa militant caught in Madhya Pradesh

Criminals, underworld gangsters and terrorists are making Madhya Pradesh a place of hiding. This was proved again when a Babbar Khalsa terrorist was arrested in the state.

Gurmeet Singh, a Sikh militant who has links with Babbar Khalsa, was caught when he was living in Shivpuri. He was concealing himself and living as a driver here. Rajasthan's Anti-Terrorism Squad tracked him down in MP.

Here he had told his name as Amar Singh. He has robbery cases in Rajasthan and was in Bikaner jail. He was on parole but escaped and went into hiding. Gurmeet, 50, was located in Padora in Kolaras and is being taken back to Jaipur. Hindu, Muslim terrorists including SIMI and Abhinav Bharat members have been arrested in MP earlier.

How Dainik Bhaskar's report on Sudarshan's comment put BJP, RSS in embarrassing situation

The controversy over ex-RSS chief KS Sudarshan's comment would not have erupted at all had Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar also 'under-played' this news like most other newspapers in Madhya Pradesh did.

Almost all the journalists representing the major newspapers and channels were present at Sudarshan's press conference but they were convinced that no other paper would publish it. The reason is that none of the media group owners want their advertisement revenue cut in the state.

Journalists on BJP beat who get sympathetic to party as they are covering it for second term didn't want to upset Sangh leaders and BJP government. But Dainik Bhaskar played the spoilsport for all of them and went ahead with a huge full page news.

The story covered all the allegations which former RSS sarsanghchalak Sudarshan made including Sonia being a CIA agent and her alleged role in the killings of Indira Gandhi and her husband Rajiv Gandhi. Other reporters thought no one would publish and it had been 'managed'.

Some papers published the news but diluted it, thinking that it was an old man's eccentric comments and could be ignored. But when Bhaskar published the news and its national edition also carried it, the controversy reached parliament.

Angry protests were held in the country and the Congress got BJP on the backfoot. There was no way that such charges and vulgar allegations could be defended. It was a dream breaking story for any newspaper or channel reporter but pro-state government owners and journos who tried to block it, got a shock as Bhaskar played it up. But they had missed it and there was no other option but to follow the story now on the next day.

In MP, Raj Express and Jagran carried small item news while Nai Dunia and Patrika neglected it. TV channels also compromised on their journalistic principles and ignored the important news which has seriously dented RSS' image.

For long Dainik Bhaskar was considered a pro-BJP and to some extent a pro-establishment newspaper also but it seems the owners now want to bring a radical change and take it to national centrestage as leading Hindi newspaper.

Jagran and Bhaskar had indeed been pro-Hindutva papers and their leanings towards RSS and BJP were open. But the young generation seems to change the way the newspaper has been run. It is now being modelled on the lines of modern newspapers where news should take precedence.

Though Bhaskar has interests in many sectors and news gets compromised, they are planning to get aggressive to beat other papers outside MP, Rajasthan belt also. If they don't do it, they can't win over Bihar, Jharkhand and be ready for the big fight in Delhi-UP.

BJP MLA's kin in rape row: Girl reaches CM House for justice

Another BJP leader is in the midst of controversy after his nephew was booked for raping a girl recently. The victim was allegedly abducted and raped. The MLA Yashpal Singh Sisodia represents Mandsaur in the Assembly.

The girl has alleged that Sisodia's nephew Dharmendra raped her after abduction. Her complaint was registered but later administration didn't act. Dharmendra moves freely and was not arrested. She reached Bhopal to get justice and meet Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

But here she didn't get an opportunity to even present her case. When she reached CM House, the policemen forcibly took her away. There was no women police personnel when she was whisked away. After media persons flashes the news, she was released in a hurry.

This incident again shows that power-drunk relatives of ministers and legislators care little about the law. Poor victims in small towns and villages don't have a voice and there complaints aren't taken seriously in Bhopal also.