\Cases were filed during Congress tenure
Raipur
The Vishnudeo Sai government in Chhattisgarh is preparing to drop over 54 political cases registered against BJP leaders during the Congress tenure between 2019 and 2023. These cases involved charges like inciting riots, damaging public property, and disrupting officials. A cabinet sub-committee had recommended this action, covering leaders from state and district levels, including prominent figures like Dayaldas Baghel and Rakesh Sen.
While BJP criticised the FIRs as politically motivated, Congress demanded similar relief for grassroots workers. A similar step was taken earlier during the Congress regime under Bhupesh Baghel.
In the cabinet meeting, the sub-committee of the Council of Ministers had recommended the ending of the cases. The BJP leaders whose cases will be withdrawn include ministers, MLAs, state level and district level leaders. On the other hand, the Congress has said that only the cases of big leaders are being withdrawn, the cases of workers should also be ended.
According to the information received from the Home Department, the leaders whose cases will be terminated include 54 state and district level leaders including senior leaders like Minister Dayaldas Baghel, Shakuntala Porte, Uddeshwari Paikra, Sushant Shukla, Krishnakant Chandra, Yogeshwar Raju Sinha, Gajendra Yadav, Rikesh Sen and Saurabh Singh.
The sub-committee constituted by the Council of Ministers reviewed these cases in the presence of Ministers Ram Vichar Netam and Laxmi Rajwade.
According to a BJP spokesperson, corruption and cheating with the people of the state was happening in the Bhupesh government. When BJP leaders used to take to the streets to protest against the then government, they were threatened by filing FIRs against them.
The then CM Bhupesh Baghel along with his ministers had taken a similar decision during the Congress tenure. The committee formed by the Congress govt had recommended ending 21 political cases. According to the ADR report, more than 100 tainted leaders contested the assembly elections 2023.
