E-Paper
Not in my nature to apologise, says BJP MLA who dissed ‘spiritual city’ plan
BJP legislator Chintamani Malviya said he had already said whatever he had to and would give the party a factual reply when he receives the notice
BHOPAL: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Chintamani Malviya, who stunned his party last week by publicly criticising the state government’s plan to set up a 3,300 hectare spiritual city in Ujjain, on Monday that his statement in the Madhya Pradesh assembly was “final”.
“It is not in my nature to apologise,” the legislator said when asked if he regretted his statement in the assembly on Saturday after his party’s sharp reaction.
On Sunday, Madhya Pradesh BJP president VD Sharma said the party has issued notice to the lawmaker.
“For the past few days, you have been criticising the government in public places. And your statements and actions are constantly hurting the reputation of the party. This conduct of yours has an adverse effect on the image of the government and the party, which comes under the category of indiscipline. As per the instructions of the national president of Bharatiya Janata Party, JP Nadda ji, you are informed to give an explanation within 7 days of receiving this letter. Why shouldn’t disciplinary action be taken against you,” the notice said.
Malviya on Monday said he hadn’t received the notice yet. “When I get the notice, I will give a factual reply. Whatever my statement was, it is final. Whatever I had to say, I said it in the House,” he said.
On Saturday, the BJP MLA from Alot in Ratlam district, thanked chief minister Mohan Yadav for ₹2,000 crore allocation for Ujjain Simhastha. “Ujjain is proud that the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is from Ujjain. But, today the farmers of Ujjain are very scared and worried because the state government, which used to acquire land of farmers only for 3-6 months during Simhastha, has served notice of permanent acquisition,” he said.
“I don’t know which official has proposed this idea of a spiritual city. I want to tell you that spirituality does not reside in any city. It comes from people who sacrifice. We cannot build a spiritual city by building concrete buildings. We cannot use the land of Simhastha in such a way that it causes great harm. “It should not happen that we lose the land of Simhastha forever,” he added.
MP Congress state president Jitu Patwari criticised the BJP for coming down heavily on its lawmaker for his views. “BJP calls itself a democratic party but they don’t allow their MLA to raise the voice of common people and farmers in the assembly. We will not allow any injustice with farmers and will support BJP MLA on this issue,” Patwari said.
MP urban development minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said the Congress should worry about its issues. “They can’t tell us (BJP) what to do and what not to. It is a party’s internal matter,” he said.
