MP CM accused of crediting wife for poem written by someone else

In a Facebook post, Bhumika Birthare also claimed that she was getting calls from police who wanted to know her location

A woman media professional on Tuesday accused Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of passing off on Twitter a poem written by her as one written by his wife Sadhna Singh after the death of his father-in-law.

While the state Congress leaders slammed Chouhan for alleged plagiarism, the ruling BJP refused to comment.

In a tweet on November 22, Chouhan shared a few lines of a poem titled "Bauji" (father) on his Twitter handle, stating that it was written by his wife to express her feelings after the last rites of his father-in-law.

Bhumika Birthare, who claims to be a TV anchor/reporter, took to Twitter on Monday to assert that it was her poem.

"I am like your niece, what will you get by stealing my poem. This poem was written by me. Hope you will not violate my rights as `Mama' is known for protecting the rights," she said, tagging the Chief Minister.

Chouhan is popularly known as `Mama-ji'.

According to Birthare, she had posted the same poem on social media with a title "Daddy" on November 20.

Besides Chouhan, she also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath.

In a Facebook post she also claimed that she was getting calls from police who wanted to know her location, and demanded security.

Congress leader Arun Yadav shared Birthare's tweets and said the BJP was expert in changing names.

"Earlier they used to change the name of the schemes introduced by the Congress regime, but now the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is showing off a poem written by somebody else as that of his wife's," said Yadav, a former Union minister.

K K Mishra, another Congress leader, also shared Birthare's post.

State BJP spokespersons refused to comment on the issue when contacted.