Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai reacted to the allegations of Bhupesh Baghel that BJP is conspiring against him and called the allegations wrong and baseless. Sai also said that Baghel is allegedly "accused of taking protection money" in the Mahadev betting app scam.
"What Bhupesh Baghel said that the BJP wants to assassinate him politically and the case of Mahadev Betting app is a conspiracy is completely wrong and baseless. The investigations have taken place, whether it is the coal scam. His people were involved in the coal scam and are in jail. In the liquor scam, his people are in jail. In the Mahadev Betting app scam, he is accused of taking protection money. If all this is a lie, then why are his people not getting the bail? He should not say that something unfair is happening to him," Sai said in an interview with ANI.
He also reacted to Baghel's conspiracy remark and said that during his regime there used to be counters at the liquor shops, and the accounts of one counter used to go to the government, and the accounts of the other went to his ministers. He also reacted to the religious conversion issue and called it 'Kalank' for the state.
"Religious conversion is like 'kalank' for Chhattisgarh. In the area I come from, Jashpur, there are very missionaries. A lot of religious conversions used to take place as they used to take advantage of people's poverty. After we formed the government, we have restricted this, but now they started doing Changai Sabha. They claim that they will free the people from the disease. This is done by a Christian missionary," he added.
On being asked about the actions taken by the government on the protection of journalists, he said that in the Bijapur journalist attack case, the government actively arrested the accused and took action.
"In the previous government, journalists were attacked but our government has given them protection. No such incident has happened after our government came to power. In one of the incidents in Bijapur where the journalist was attacked the state government immediately took action and arrested the accused," CM Sai said.
Speaking on the mining issue, he called Chhattisgarh very rich in terms of mineral wealth. The CBI has named former CM Bhupesh Baghel as one of the accused in the Mahadev Betting App case. A total of 21 people have been named as accused in the case. The complaint alleges that the platform provides illegal betting services in different live games, including poker, card games, chance games, and betting on sports.