Teacher hiring scam: Digvijay says MP CM involved; govt denies

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today accused Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of allegedly being involved in the teacher recruitment scam in the state, a charge rubbished by the government as "untrue".

The Congress general secretary also alleged that jobs for various posts in the state were available for a price and demanded an unbiased probe into the alleged scam, in which a former minister of Chouhan government has been arrested.

Singh claimed that at least three more ministers were involved in the scam. Trashing the charges, Madhya Pradesh government spokesperson and senior Minister Narottam Mishra termed the allegations against the Chief Minister as "misleading and untrue".

Mishra's rebuttal came after Singh told reporters, "If the records of call details (of accused) are scanned, then it will be clear that the CM was not only aware about it but had a role to play."

Singh also claimed that recruitment to different vacancies, be it in transport department or for a patwari or a peon, has been marred by scam in the state.

"There is a rate list for all of these posts like you have a menu card in a restaurant for different foods. So far, we are aware about the scam in teachers' recruitment only but there are others as well," he said.

Mishra, who is also Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, said in Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, "Digvijay himself was the chief minster of the state, he might have indulged in such acts."

"But in this case, the accused, howsoever powerful, will not be spared," Mishra asserted.Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti rubbished allegations of her involvement in the scam levelled by Congress and said it was an attempt to trivialise the matter.

She said, she was given a clean chit by police long back. A Special Task Force probing the case had arrested former state technical education minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Sharma on June 15 for his alleged involvement in contractual teachers recruitment scam.

Over 100 students, who allegedly cleared the Pre-Medical Test (PMT) through unfair means, had also been arrested by STF from different districts of the state.

PMT was conducted by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) whose top officials were already arrested by STF since the scam surfaced in 2013.