Chhattisgarh home minister toes opposition line

Opposition Congress has a “friend” within government to help when it comes against protesting against the industries and corporate houses.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh was surprised to hear from its home minister Nanakiram Kanwar that he would always stand by the opposition members when it came to protest against the wrong doings of the corporate houses or industries.

During the recently concluded winter session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee President and senior legislator Nandkumar Patel alleged that the state government was giving undue favours to the industries. “Taking advantage of it, the corporate houses were keeping all norms at bay,” he added.

Pointing towards Nankiram Kanwar sitting just in front of in the treasury benches, Patel said: “You had been vocal against the industries when you were only a legislator, but you have changed a lot soon after becoming a minister.”

The minister was quick to reply to the utter surprise of his cabinet colleagues. “I will always stand by the opposition members if they raise the issue of any industry violating the norms or doing injustice to the common people,” the minister said.

While the Congress members smiled and thanked the minister, the members in the treasury benches preferred to keep a mum.

Kanwar, hailing from the industrial town of Korba, has been vocal against the industries in his area. Recently he hogged the headlines when he struck with the local district administration officials at the site of a power company and stopped the construction work doing on under the expansion plan allegedly on an encroached land.