Have videos of 8 govt officials caught in a honeytrap: MP BJP leader

Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Gopal Bhargava has said that one of his acquaintances had videos of government officials caught in (honey) trap but he was not raising the issue as he did not want the image of the state to be maligned.

Taking to Twitter, Bhargava referred to the honeytrap issue and accused the government officers of "looting" the people and "paying crores of rupees in blackmail" after getting caught in "traps".

He said the IAS officers believed that politicians are bandits while they themselves are "devpurush" (pious).

"Where does this money come from? An acquaintance has videos of eight such 'devpurush'. I would have disclosed everything but I do not want to malign the image of Madhya Pradesh. I have remained silent on the issue so far for this very reason," Bhargava tweeted in Hindi on Saturday night.

However, Bhargava said, the statements of officers on Biaora incident "have crossed a limit".

"I still don't want central agencies like ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to come to Madhya Pradesh and cause trouble in my own state. But I have to make a decision about the so-called 'devpurush' as per the party's intentions," Bhargava said in another tweet.

Talking about party leader Badrilal Yadav, who was recently arrested for making indecent remarks about a female IAS officer, Nidhi Nivedita, during a rally in Biaora, Bhargava said that the "elite class has been hurt by Yadav's remarks".

"There is a lot of unease among some IAS officers in the state about the Biaora incident. The elite class has been hurt by the statement of Badrilal Yadav, a former minister from a backward caste," Bhargava added.

On January 19, some BJP workers had clashed with the officials after they were denied permission to hold a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Biora of Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district. District Collector Nidhi Nivedita was seen slapping a BJP worker in a video that went viral.

Following the incident, Yadav said that the woman officer "feeds milk to Congress workers with love... and slaps and uses stick against BJP workers". The BJP has demanded action against the District Collector and another woman officer Priya Verma.