“Won’t hide truth”: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on FIR against Priyanka Gandhi over MP ‘commission’ claim

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], August 13 (ANI): Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday lashed out at the BJP over an FIR filed against Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Bhopal and Indore, saying the complaint won’t “hide the truth”.

The FIR was filed against the Congress general secretary and fellow party leaders, including Jairam Ramesh, over a post on X, formerly Twitter, to which she tagged a purported letter alleging corruption by the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the Chhattisgarh CM said, “They (BJP govt) can’t hide the truth by filing an FIR (against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra).”

“When (government) contractors, themselves, are writing (to the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court) to say that 50 per cent commission is being charged on their payments, what more evidence is required? The FIR won’t hide the truth,” Baghel told ANI.

Sharing a news clip containing a purported letter, Priyanka posted on X earlier, “The union of contractors in Madhya Pradesh has written to the Chief Justice of the High Court complaining that their pending payments are released only on the payment of 50 per cent commission. The corrupt BJP government in Karnataka used to collect 40 per cent commission (from government contractors). Now, in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has gone a step ahead and broken its own record of corruption.”

“The people of Karnataka ousted the 40 per cent-commission government. Now, the people of Madhya Pradesh will oust the BJP’s 50 per cent-commission government,” she added in her post.

An FIR was filed against Priyanka Gandhi, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and former Union minister Arun Yadav for sharing the news clip with the purported letter from their official social media handles.

The FIR was registered on the complaint lodged by some BJP leaders.

According to a post on the official X handle of Indore’s Commissioner of Police (CP) on Saturday late night, the convener of the BJP’s local legal cell, Nimesh Pathak, lodged a complaint that a ‘fake’ letter was being circulated claiming that government contractors were being charged “50 per cent commission”.

A case under IPC sections 420 and 469 was registered on the complaint at Indore’s Sanyogitaganj police station.