Congress guns for MP Minister, seeks CBI probe in land case

Opposition Congress today alleged Madhya Pradesh Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya was directly involved in a land scam, in which his name does not figure in the chargesheet, and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.
Though the Lokayukta Police has given a "clean chit" to the BJP leader, he was directly involved in the alleged land scam, Congress leaders said at a press conference here.
Congress MLAs from Indore district Satyanarayan Patel and Tulsi Silawat, the party's city unit President Pramod Tandon and some other local leaders addressed the conference.
The scam pertains to illegal transfer of a three-acre government plot, which had already been given on lease, in Pardeshipura area to a cooperative society by the Indore Municipal Corporation in 2004. Vijayvargiya was then Mayor.

Ramesh Mendola, local BJP MLA, who is considered close to Vijayvargiya, is Chairman of the cooperative society.
On May 20, Lokayukta Police filed a chargesheet in a Special Court against 18 persons, including Mendola, in connection with the scam. Vijayvargiya, whose name figured in the first complaint filed with the anti-corruption ombudsman, has not been charged.
The Congress leaders alleged that Vijayvargiya was given a "clean chit" by the probe agency under pressure from the state's BJP government though he had a "direct role" in the land transfer episode.
They sought a CBI probe and said a Congress delegation will meet the Governor on June 1 to press for their demand and submit documents linking the BJP Minister to the scam.