Congress MLA Says Public Fund Used For BJP's Food, Madhya Pradesh Government Replies

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, called Congress MLA Jitu Patwari's statement a "big lie".

The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Madhya Pradesh has refuted allegations by Congress MLA Jitu Patwari that the state government had spent crores of public money to arrange food for ruling party functionaries between 2014 and 2018. Calling the allegations as "totally" false, the party legislators have said that they will lodge a complaint to the 'Prashna aur Sambandh Samiti (reference committee of the House) for necessary action.

During the debate over the no confidence motion in Madhya Pradesh assembly on Wednesday, Congress MLA Jitu Patwari had alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spent Rs 40 crores of public money to fund food for ruling party functionaries of BJP party office "90 times". In his long speech, the Congress MLA alleged that the state government had funded lunch, tea and dinner at party meets held at the Chief Minister's house between 2014 and 2018.

The next day, while Mr Chouhan was replying to the Congress' no-confidence motion in the Assembly, Mr Patwari said, "I wish to place a paper on the table of the House in which I was informed through the public relation department that it had arranged for food for the BJP 90 times. The BJP office is mentioned in the paper, which is signed by officials."

Mr Patwari claimed, a cup of tea was served at Rs 400 while the food was charged at Rs 2,000 a plate.