Opposition expresses no trust on Raman govt in Chhattisgarh

Opposition Congress launched a scathing attack on the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh and accused that it was mired in corruption as the state legislative assembly today started discussion on the no-confidence motion moved against the BJP-led government.

The notice of no-trust was moved two days ago. On Friday, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal admitted the motion for discussion. Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo tabled the motion; stating that they had lost trust in the Raman Singh government and his cabinet.

"The state government is mired in corruption," fumed senior legislator and state Congress President Bhupesh Baghel while starting the discussion on the motion. The connection of Chief Minister's house has been linked with the multi-crore public distribution system scam, he said, adding that since the politicians and bureaucrats are involved in the scam, state agency would not conduct free and fair investigation. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe was necessary in the case, he added.

Raising the issue of farmers, Baghel said Chief Minister Raman Singh was writing frequently to raise the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister. "In the regime of Narendra Modi, he had given pause to his effort," he said. The BJP government had announced that it would procure entire stock of paddy from the farmers but had started curtailing the quantity. The MGNREGA workers had been running from pillar to post to get the payment that had been due since 2012, Baghel said.

Senior Congress leader Satyanarayan Sharma said in last 3 years, 95000 labourers had migrated from Chhattisgarh as the state government had failed to provide them employment. He added that the unbundling of the electricity board and forming five power companies was not required. "The state government formed the five companies and the financial burden of the same had to been incurred by the common people," he added.

Defending the state government, Agriculture and Water Resources minister Brijmohan Agrawal said in last 11 years, the civil supplies corporation purchased rice worth Rs 33,000 crore while the opposition had alleged a scam of Rs 36,000 crore. "How can it be possible," the minister said. Senior legislator of the ruling party Shivratan Sharma said the Congress party had no rights to speak on corruption. He said the Congress party had leveled 121 charges against the government in the motion but failed to get evidence in even one case.

The discussion on the motion would continue. Till Friday evening, four members had participated in the discussion while 80 members had submitted their names.