E-Paper
Watches for scribes land MP minister in trouble
How ungrateful! When Madhya Pradesh minister for public health engineering Gaurishankar Bisen allegedly gave away a wristwatch each as a Holi gift to journalists attending his press conference, the latter, far from being appreciative, went and reported the matter, both on TV channels and in print.
How ungrateful! When Madhya Pradesh minister for public health engineering Gaurishankar Bisen allegedly gave away a wristwatch each as a Holi gift to journalists attending his press conference, the latter, far from being appreciative, went and reported the matter, both on TV channels and in print.
Result: Manohar Dubey, collector and district returning officer of Seoni, where Bisen held his briefing, took note. He consulted his seniors and on Tuesday, filed an FIR against Bisen under section 171 of the Indian Penal Code for violating the model code of conduct before elections!
“Yes, the local returning officer was instructed to file the FIR,” confirmed J. S. Mathur, state chief electoral officer. Another FIR has been lodged against BJP leader Radheshyam Deshmukh, who had accompanied Bisen and who reportedly threatened the representative of a local news channel, when the channel began highlighting the distribution of free watches.
With TV channels having captured him in the act of handing over the watches, Bisen was hard put to deny having done so.“Let the time come and I’ll reply to all the charges against me,” he told HT. “I’m not yet a candidate in the Lok Sabha poll, so how does the code of conduct apply to me? It is all politically motivated.”
