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Several Congress leaders, including the party's National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Madhya Pradesh’s Congress Chief Kamal Nath, have been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) based on the complaint of BJP's Indore legal cell convenor Nimesh Pathak for falsely accusing the Madhya Pradesh government of indulging in "50 percent commission" scam.
The FIR lodged by the BJP leader in Indore on Saturday, August 12, alleged that the Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, party's National General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh and Kamal Nath, have made identical posts on social media platforms. On Saturday, the BJP leaders had submitted complaints to the police in various cities of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, including the capital city of Bhopal, Indore and Rewa.
The saffron party leaders lodged FIRs against the senior Congress leaders for allegedly making "untrue" social media posts based on a "fake letter" to defame the BJP and the state government. The state’s BJP leaders, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Home Minister Narottam Mishra and state’s party President VD Sharma have supported these claims.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Kamal Nath, while using news reports in a section of media, had posted on a social media platform that a union of contractors from Madhya Pradesh has written a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court, complaining that they receive payment only after paying 50 percent commission. "The corrupt BJP government in Karnataka used to collect 40 percent commission. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP has gone ahead by breaking its own record of corruption. People of Karnataka ousted the 40 percent commission government, now the people of Madhya Pradesh will remove the 50 percent commission government from power," the Congress leaders alleged.
The BJP leaders claimed that they have checked in Gwalior about the concerned letter which is being quoted on the social media. "Neither the address from which the alleged letter has been mailed, nor the sender (Gyanendra Awasthi) and nor the association under whose name it has been sent, actually exist on the ground. This clearly establishes that the letter is fake. We'll definitely take legal action in the matter," VD Sharma said.
However, not ready to be cowed down by the ruling BJP leaders' warning of legal action, State Congress' media wing Head KK Mishra said, "We are not afraid of legal action or arrest. I welcome the police to arrest us even after midnight, but we'll continue to expose rampant corruption under the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. On the one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party are giving the slogan ‘Bhrashtachar Bharat Chhodo’, but on the other hand, he is silent about rampant corruption in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh."
