The Madhya Pradesh government led by Kamal Nath has allegedly spent a whopping amount of over Rs 38 crore on refurbishing the houses of Congress ministers in the state. This comes at a time when Kamal Nath government is facing backlash for failing to waive off farms loans.
According to Economic Times, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has decided to renovate residence of ministers including the chief minister’s residence in Bhopal. It is notable here that the CM’s residence in Bhopal has been kept vacant since December 2018 and Kamal Nath is yet to move in.
BJP MLA Narottam Mishra has cited a written reply given to him in the state assembly by the government on Thursday, saying Rs 38.47 crore has been spent by the state public works department (PWD) to renovate and refurbish the official bungalows of 28 new ministers.
“The chief minister, since the last seven months, has still not reached the CM’s house. Our CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan stayed in the same residence for the last 15 years but I am unable to understand what is lacking in that house that Kamal Nath has not moved in there for seven months now and constant repair and renovation is being carried out there. This is wastage of the state’s resources,” Mishra said.
Mishra further alleged that Congress government of failing to grant money for cremations under the former government’s Sambhal scheme while accusing them of wasting so much money on renovating official bungalows. In fact, new houses from scratch could have been built with Rs 39 crore, said Mishra.
Meanwhile, Sajjan Singh Verma, State PWD Minister claimed the figures were not correct and said a very small amount of money had been spent.
“Such was the desperation and frustration of the BJP ministers when they lost power that they even uprooted taps and pipes from the government bungalows before vacating them. We had to hence carry out some repairs to make them livable,” Verma told ET.
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal alleged that Kamal Nath was still to move into the CM’s residence as it was very simple as per the lifestyle of the former BJP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and not up to the extravagant way of living of Nath”.
Madhya Pradesh government has been facing a lot of criticism since it came to power after its marginal victory in the assembly elections. Recently, in a controversial decision, the Congress-led Madhya Pradesh government had decided to withdraw nearly 50,000 cases filed against Congress workers and leaders in the state in the last 15 years.
