Bhopal: A tug of war between former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, that erupted following black money recovery from ex-RTO constable Saurabh Sharma, continued with a fresh remark on Monday.
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday said he had no dispute with Jyotiraditya’s father and former Union Minister Madhavrao Scindia.
Digvijaya said he and former CM Arjun Singh had brought Madhavrao Scindia into Congress.
“It was me and Arjun Singh who took Madhavrao Scindia to Indira Gandhi (ex-PM) and Sanjay Gandhi in 1979-1980, and then he joined the Congress. There was no dispute between him and Madhavrao Scindia,” Singh said, adding that those who talk unnecessarily should know about the history.
The Congress leader made this statement responding to Jyotiraditya’s allegation that Digvijaya has always targeted the Scindia family. “He (Digvijaya Singh) has always targeted my family. Earlier, he targeted my father, and now at me. But I have always great regard for Raja Sahab,” Scindia had said during a visit to Gwalior recently.
The Union minister was responding to Digvijaya’s allegation that during Kamal Nath-led Congress government, Scindia (who was then in Congress) had recommended allocating the transport ministry to his loyalist Govind Singh Rajput, who at present is minister in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s cabinet.
Digvijaya had also accused him of pressuring Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government to end the transport department’s transfer board. However, Scindia has termed the allegations made against him by Singh as ‘baseless’.
The controversy began after black money linked to former transport department constable Saurabh Sharma was caught in the abandoned car by Lokayukta.
Singh also alleged that Saurabh Sharma, who was found with large sums of cash and gold, had protection from a transport minister and was involved in a money laundering operation that reached the top levels of the department.
He mentioned that the entire scam involved illegal collections from check posts and transfers managed by officials with connections to Scindia.
Notably, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department and the Special Establishment Police (SEP) of state Lokayukt carried out separate searches at several premiers of Sharma and his associates in multiple locations, including Bhopal and Gwalior.
The first recovery took place during a Lokayukta raid last week, where anti-corruption officials discovered that Sharma was in possession of movable assets worth Rs 7.98 crore, including Rs 2.87 crore in cash and 235 kilograms of silver.
Several real estate investment documents and a cash-counting machine were also seized from properties associated with Sharma.
Subsequently, the Income Tax Department conducted another raid, uncovering 52 kilograms of gold bars worth Rs 40 crore and over Rs 11 crore in cash from an abandoned SUV in Bhopal. However, the agencies have yet to arrest Sharma so far.
