Digvijay Singh slams MP BJP government over dearness allowance

"The BJP has often described me as anti-employee, whereas the truth is that it is the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh which has grabbed over Rs 19,000 crores which is due to employees and pensioners as dearness allowance," he told reporters.

Singh said that before the 2003 assembly elections, the BJP had claimed that he allegedly made a statement saying that he did not need employees' votes to win an election. He dared the BJP to produce even one single 'sound byte' which carried this alleged statement.

"No chief minister in his senses can ever say that he does not want employees' votes and there was no way in which he could have done so," he said.

When asked about his expectations from employees, Singh said he wished that they became aware of their rights and realised who had helped them and who defrauded them.

He said during his tenure as chief minister, employees used to get dearness allowance from the day it was announced by the central government, whereas under the BJP government it was being paid to employees in five instalments, without any interest.

He said it was sad that he was branded as "anti-employee" despite the state of affairs under the BJP government, which claimed that it was their friend.

When reporters suggested Singh that he should have come out with these dearness allowance figures much earlier, he said if he had done so, the figure would not have reached Rs 19,000 crores. (MORE)