Vyapam accused and jailed former minister of higher and technical education minister of Madhya Pradesh Laxmikant Sharma may soon return to BJP after he shared dais with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan yesterday at Sironj It is the second time within a month that the former minister has met Chouhan; giving indication that party may field him as candidate. Sharma was arrested after being booked in multiple cases of the multi-layered Vyapam scam in June 2014. He subsequently spent 18 months in jail. After his arrest, the party suspended his primary membership form the party. But Sharma did not join any other political outfit.
Yesterday, when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh's Janashirwad Yatra reached Sironj, Sharma joined him on the stage, where he not only welcomed the CM but also was organiser of the rally. Sharma had lost the 2013 assembly polls to the Congress candidate.
Facing a tough political battle ahead, Shivraj Singh is leaving no stone unturned to make BJP return to power for the fourth time in the state. In the Sironj assembly, BJP plans to field Laxmikant Sharma against Congress as it does not have any other suitable candidate.
In sharing a dais at a political rally with former minister Sharma, CM Shivraj Singh has given ample indications about the return of the Vyapam accused leader back to BJP fold. Sharma, considered close to RSS leadership has never uttered a single word against chief minister even he was jail and had to spend almost five years in political exile.
As technical education minister, Laxmikant Sharma was heading the Vyapam when the scam took place. He has been accused of getting some of his candidates, made teachers through the recruitment body. Currently, the case of Vyapam is under trial in of Bhopal Court after CBI took over the matter in 2015.
Even as the final decision on Vyapam is awaited, it seems that BJP has forgotten the issue and exonerated its minister. Congress has criticized Shivraj Singh for having pardoned the Vyapam accused leader. Congress leader Pankaj Chaturvedi said the incident of Laxmikant Sharma sharing the dais with Chief Minister shows that Vyapam was a well planned scam of Shivraj Singh and he was hand-in-glove with the accused.
