BJP in a fix as MP governor tenure nears end

With Ram Naresh Yadav’s tenure as Madhya Pradesh’s governor coming to an end earlier this week, there seems to be an unease in the ruling BJP in the state. The reason for this is a buzz in the Opposition Congress’ camp of renewing attack on chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam scam. The Congress had been demanding Mr Chouhan’s resignation and had accused him and his family members of being involved in the multi-crore scam. Mr Yadav, a Congress leader, too was named by the special task force in the Vyapam scam, but was granted immunity by courts from prosecution till he was in office. Interestingly, Mr Yadav was one of the few UPA-appointed governors who survived in the NDA reg-ime. There were rumours that the chief minister himself was not in favour of replacing him otherwise it would had put more pressure on him. As per the protocol, a governor is head of the state and next in line is the chief minister. It was only after the Oppositions’ pressure that the case was taken over by the CBI.

There is also a growing pressure for action agai-nst Mr Yadav. His son, who was also named in the scam, had died last year under mysterious circumstances. Mr Yad-av’s former OSD was also arrested by the STF after it had established scam’s trail to the Raj Bhavan.

A whistleblower of the scam had tried to immolate himself in front of Mr Yadav’s convoy on his last day in office earlier this week, demanding his arrest for his alleged involvement in the scam.

However, the BJP camp is worried that if any action is taken against Mr Yadav, it could also create troubles for Mr Chouhan, who is under the Opposition’s pressure to quit. Any action against Mr Yadav, the BJP camp feels, could put more “ethical and moral” pressure on the chief minister, who many feel has already started working for the 2018 Assembly elections.

It could be recalled here that senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar too had raised concerns over the Vyapam scam through a letter and said that “reports of the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh have made all of us bow our heads in shame. Any Indian will be disappointed and distressed over the kind of stories being reported by the media”. Mr Chouhan, however, had given a point-by-point rebuttal to Mr Kumar and said the whole issue was Congress’ propaganda.