Poster War In MP As CM Chouhan, Kamal Nath Accused Of 'Scams'. Both BJP, Congress Blame 'Infighting'

Posters were put up in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh by some unidentified miscreants which targetted CM Shivraj Chouhan and former CM Kamal Nath. These posters led to a verbal fight between the parties.

Ahead of Madhya Pradesh Assembly Polls slated to take place towards the year-end, the BJP and the Congress slugged it out on Friday over the posters of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his predecessor Kamal Nath which were put up in Bhopal. The posters were about the alleged corruption charges and were put up by some unidentified miscreants. The ruling BJP and the main Opposition party sought to clear their name from this poster war as they blamed "infighting" reported news agency PTI.

Posters of Kamal Nath were seen in Shahpura which termed him as "Wanted" and "Corruption Nath". The posters linked him to a number of alleged scams and carried a QR code on them with the caption, “Scam se bachne ke liye scan kare” (scan to prevent scams).

The former CM reacted to the attack by saying, “They want to sully my image, but they won't succeed." He emphasised that his 47-year-long political career has been "blemish-free and no one has ever pointed fingers at him for any wrongdoing".

He added, "If there were allegations against my 15-month-long government (December 2018-March 2020), the BJP would have probed them as the party is in power for the last three years in Madhya Pradesh. People are a witness to my clean political life and I don't need any certificate from the BJP."

After some time, two posters with Chouhan's pictures were also seen on the streets. It carried captions that read, “Not Shivraj, But Scam Rule” and “Shivraj's 18 years of rampant scams and frauds” with a mention of the Vyapam scam which was an admission and recruitment racket. It is notable that the posters were put up at a location that was just a stone's throw away from the state Congress office. Later, such posters were seen at four other places in the state capital as well, said eyewitnesses, as per PTI.

A state Congress functionary said that the Opposition has nothing to do with Chouhan's poster and that it was an insider's job.

MP Congress Intellectual Cell Chairman Bhupendra Gupta while talking to PTI said, “There is a fierce battle going on in the BJP over leadership in MP and efforts are on to defame chief minister Chouhan. BJP people are doing such things to create an impression in the minds of people that the Congress was behind such acts. Our party does not believe in such an ideology and style.”

In a similar fashion, State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma said that his party has nothing to do with Nath's posters and that it was a result of an "internal fight" in the Opposition party.

Congress workers filed a complaint while seeking the registration of an FIR to identify who was behind the posters against Nath. They staged a protest after which the police took their complaint in writing regarding an investigation, PTI cited a party leader as saying.

State Assembly Polls in 2018 saw the Congress emerging as the single largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member House and the BJP won 109 seats.

The Congress formed a coalition government under Nath after being in the Opposition for 15 years. However, the government fell in March 2020 when nearly two dozen MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia called it quits and later joined the BJP. The saffron party then returned to power and Chouhan became the Chief Minister.