BJP suspends Satna leader

Senior BJP leader LK Advani has said the allegations of cash distribution among journalists by party workers in Satna will soon be probed.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani has said the allegations of cash distribution among journalists by party workers in Satna will soon be probed.

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Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra, held on the anti-corruption plank, ran into trouble after local BJP workers allegedly distributed cash among journalists ahead of a press conference on Wednesday.

“It is a serious matter,” Advani told journalists on Friday. He said state BJP president Prabhat Jha would look into the matter.

Late on Friday, Jha suspended media incharge of Satna Shyam Gupta with immediate effect during press conference in Satna.

In New Delhi, BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the party would inquire whether those who distributed the cash were indeed party workers and would take strict action if necessary.

The conference, held a day before the yatra was to enter the state, was addressed by state PWD minister Nagendra Singh and parliamentarian Ganesh Singh. The journalists were allegedly given envelopes, each containing R500. When the journalists asked him about the issue, Nagendra Singh said he was unaware of the matter.

On Thursday, the opposition took up the issue.

State Congress president Kantilal Bhuria said: “The party which is making a hue and cry over black money is using black money for Advani’s yatra.”

“There is no meaning of such a yatra in Madhya Pradesh when several ministers of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet are embroiled in corruption charges,” said opposition leader Ajay Singh.

At least two dozen Congress workers were arrested on Friday when they tried to hold a black flag protest in Satna, 500 km from Bhopal.