News Analysis India

Tag: Tulsiram Silawat

  • After farmer falls to death from rope bridge, MP minister promises permanent structure over nullah

    By PTI

    INDORE: Residents of a village in Indore in Madhya Pradesh have dismantled a rope bridge over a nullah (major drain) from which a farmer fell and died recently after state minister Tulsiram Silawat promised to replace it with a permanent structure, a panchayat official said on Friday.

    Farmer Premnarayan Patel (45) of Silotia village had fallen off the bridge and into the nullah on Monday, leading to Tilwat, the state’s water resources minister, visiting the spot on Thursday.

    Silwat announced he would sanction Rs 15 lakh for the new bridge and also handed over Rs 4 lakh as ex-gratia to Patel’s kin, as per local officials.

    “After Silawat’s announcement to build a permanent bridge, people here have dismantled the rope bridge.

    We have been demanding a permanent structure over the nullah for the past two decades,” Silotia village sarpanch Kamal Patel said.

    “People crossed the two-rope bridge with difficulty and risk. They used the bridge to avoid a 6-kilometre road travel to get to their farms,” sarpanch Patel added.

    Silotia is part of Silawat’s Sanver Assembly constituency.

    INDORE: Residents of a village in Indore in Madhya Pradesh have dismantled a rope bridge over a nullah (major drain) from which a farmer fell and died recently after state minister Tulsiram Silawat promised to replace it with a permanent structure, a panchayat official said on Friday.

    Farmer Premnarayan Patel (45) of Silotia village had fallen off the bridge and into the nullah on Monday, leading to Tilwat, the state’s water resources minister, visiting the spot on Thursday.

    Silwat announced he would sanction Rs 15 lakh for the new bridge and also handed over Rs 4 lakh as ex-gratia to Patel’s kin, as per local officials.

    “After Silawat’s announcement to build a permanent bridge, people here have dismantled the rope bridge.

    We have been demanding a permanent structure over the nullah for the past two decades,” Silotia village sarpanch Kamal Patel said.

    “People crossed the two-rope bridge with difficulty and risk. They used the bridge to avoid a 6-kilometre road travel to get to their farms,” sarpanch Patel added.

    Silotia is part of Silawat’s Sanver Assembly constituency.

  • MP: Remdesivir case accused names driver of minister Tulsiram Silawat’s wife

    By PTI
    INDORE: A man accused in a case of alleged black-marketing of Remdesivir here in Madhya Pradesh has claimed he received vials of the key anti-viral drug from the driver of minister Tulsiram Silawat’s wife.

    After a video in which the accused purportedly made the claim went viral on social media, the minister on Wednesday denied any involvement of his family in the matter, while the opposition Congress sought his immediate removal from the state cabinet.

    The accused, Punit Agrawal (27), driver of a vehicle hired from a private travel agency by the health department for Indore district health officer Purnima Gadaria, was arrested on Monday night on charges of black-marketing Remdesivir.

    In the video, Agrawal was seen with handcuffs in a police car after his arrest with two vials of Remdesivir.

    Responding to questions from reporters, Agrawal was heard alleging that, “I had taken two vials of Remdesivir for Rs 14,000 each from fellow driver Govind Rajput of the travel agency. He drives the car of minister Tulsiram Silawat’s wife.”

    Agrawal also claimed he was going to give both the vials at the cost of Rs 14,000 each to a policeman named Lalit Sharma, who has asked him for the injections.

    He further claimed that Rajput had provided Remdesivir injections to many other people.

    When asked about the claim, Silawat said Agarwal’s statement should be examined impartially.

    “My wife’s car is driven by different drivers of this private travel agency. Our family has got nothing to do with their illegal activities,” he asserted.

    However, local Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla said he had alleged that Silawat’s family was selling Remdesivir injections and Agarwal’s statement has now proved it.

    Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan should immediately remove Silawat from his cabinet, he said.

    Meanwhile, Vijay Nagar police station in-charge Tehzeeb Qazi claimed Agrawal was deliberately mentioning big names to mislead people and save himself from legal tangles.

    “However, we are conducting a detailed probe into his statements,” the official said.

    The official also said they had caught Agarwal after laying a trap and the policeman (Lalit Sharma) whose name he mentioned in the video was involved in the operation.

    He also said Govind Rajput was not yet detained for questioning.

    Health officer Gadaria, whose vehicle Agrawal used to drive before his arrest, has already said that she has got nothing to do with the case of black-marketing of Remdesivir.

  • Madhya Pradesh cabinet expanded, two Scindia loyalists return as ministers 

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: The wait of BJP old warhorses to get ministerial berths in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government in Madhya Pradesh is getting longer. 

    The third cabinet expansion of the Chouhan government happened in Bhopal on Sunday, with the Governor Anandiben Patel administering oath of office and secrecy to just two new cabinet ministers, Tulsiram Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput — both Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist former Congress legislators. 

    Ex minister Silawat (whom Scindia wanted as deputy CM in the Congress government in December 2018) and Rajput had retained their assembly seats Sanver (Indore) and Surkhi (Sagar) respectively by massive margins in the November 2020 assembly by-polls. 

    Importantly, the duo was among the four ministers who were inducted in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in the first expansion in April 2020. But they had to resign from their posts in October as they failed to get re-elected as MLAs within six months of being made cabinet ministers. 

    The resignation by both of them as ministers in October and loss of three Scindia loyalists, Imarti Devi, Aidal Singh Kansana and Giriraj Dandotiya in the by-polls had created five vacancies in the council of ministers in addition to one existing vacant spot, meaning a total of six vacancies. 

    The defeat of the three Scindia loyalist ministers in the November 2020 assembly by-polls (in which BJP won 19 out of the 28 seats to reach comfortable majority of 126 seats), had raised hopes of several BJP veterans from Vindhya, Bundelkhand, Malwa-Nimar and Mahakoshal region to finally get a place in the council of ministers. 

    The multiple-time BJP MLAs who were eyeing the six vacant slots in the council of ministers, included Nagendra Singh-Nagod, Nagendra Singh-Gurh, Kedarnath Shukla, Rajendra Shukla, Girish Gautam and Ramlalu Vaishya (all from Vindhya region which was swept by BJP in 2018 assembly polls), Ajay Vishnoi (Mahakoshal region),  Pradeep Laria and Shailendra Jain (Bundelkhand), Sitasaran Sharma and Rampal Singh (Central MP), Yashpal Singh Sisodiya and Ramesh Mendola (Malwa-Nimar region). 

    These BJP old timers were also eyeing the posts of Vidhan Sabha speaker and deputy speaker, but the three-day State Assembly winter-session (December 28-30) was postponed on December 27 evening owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The election to the post of the speaker and deputy speaker was scheduled during that three day session only.