Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath took a potshot at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the viral videos of Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's son. Speaking about the videos, he asked top BJP leaders whether the interest of the party and family comes first for them or the interest of the country.
"Three videos of the Union Minister and BJP candidate in the Assembly elections Narendra Singh Tomar's son have surfaced so far. The case, which allegedly started with a transaction of Rs 100 crore, has now reached a transaction of up to Rs 10,000 crore. In this, a direct connection with the drug trade and Canada is being shown," Nath alleged.
'The matter should be investigated...'
The state Congress chief further said that this matter is no longer about any person or party, but seems to be directly linked to national security and drug trade. This should be investigated immediately to unravel the truth, he added. "...But the sad thing is that the entire national leadership of BJP is currently in Madhya Pradesh and no one is saying a single word on this issue related to national security that has arisen in the state," Kamal Nath stated, warning that Madhya Pradesh will not forgive those who are putting personal interests ahead of national interest.
Earlier on November 13, the national spokesperson of the Congress party, Ragini Nayak also hit out at the BJP, alleging that black money and BJP leaders are synonymous with each other. She raised the allegations in view of videos of Tomar's son, Devendra Singh, which surfaced on social media about making deals worth crores with some businessmen.
"The video of Union Minister Tomar's son going viral again and again so now I have to say that along with 50 per cent commission, black money has become synonymous with BJP leaders. We have seen the previous video in which deals worth crores were heard and now a new video of Tomar's son surfaced in which deals worth five times more than that of previous one is heard in hawala dealing and black money," Nayak said.
However, Union Minister Tomar has termed videos as fake and claimed that this is a "well-planned conspiracy" carried out by the opposition at the time of elections with the aim of misleading the public. Narendra Singh Tomar is contesting from the Dimani assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, elections to which will be held on November 17.
Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections
The election to the 230-member assembly in Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to be held on November 17, while counting of votes will take place on December 3.
In the 2018 assembly polls, Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 114 seats while restricting the BJP to 109. The party under Kamal Nath formed a government with the support of BSP, SP, and Independent MLAs.
However, the Congress government fell after many MLAs under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later became a Union minister, joined the BJP. The BJP returned to power in March 2020 with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister for a fresh term. The BJP's current strength in the assembly is 127.
(With inputs from agencies)
