"Shivraj Singh Chouhan should apologize for drowning Omkareshwar town": Randeep Surjewala

Sep 18, 2023

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], September 18 : Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala slammed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over the floods at Omkareshwar saying that the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has committed a crime against the divine.
"At first they undertook corruption in Mahakal, now they have drowned Omkareshwar town. BJP especially Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has committed a crime against the divine," Surjewala said in a press conference in Bhopal on Monday.
Claiming the floods to be a human-made disaster, Surjewala said that water was not allowed to flow from the Omkareshwar dam so that the road leading to Omkareshwar would not flood.
"On 11 September, the water capacity at the Omkareshwar dam was 47 per cent and by 17th it became 84.5 per cent. In the meanwhile, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was scheduled to visit the place where construction work is going on for the Adi Shankaracharya statue...Instead of releasing water from the dam gradually, it was stopped so that the Chief Minister does not have to bear the trouble," Surjewala described.
"When Shivraj Singh reached there, 12000 cusecs of water was released from all 23 gates at 1 am at night, without informing the citizens of Omkareshwar. This led to houses, shops and ashrams getting submerged," he added.
Expressing the magnitude of the floods, Surjewala said, "For the first time, water level reached the steps of Lord Shiv’s Jyotirling. They would have even drowned that."   
The Congress MP demanded an apology from the Chief Minister and said that people from Madhya Pradesh would demand an answer from him.
"The 8.5 crore people of Madhya Pradesh are demanding an answer from the Chief Minister. We demand that Shivraj Singh apologize to every citizen of Madhya Pradesh and compensate for the losses at Omkareshwar within a week," he said.
Slamming the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for the Mahakal scam, "Shivraj Singh Chouhan drags Mahakal into everything he speaks but when the deity was falling apart, how can you sleep, how can you sit on the Chief Minister’s seat?"
Surjewala said that the Congress government will order an investigation into the Mahakal corruption case as soon as it comes to power in the state.
"Congress will come to power with the support of 8.5 crore people of Madhya Pradesh. God lies in people. We will order an investigation into the Mahakal corruption within a specific time frame as soon as our Council of Ministers are sworn in," Surjewala said.
Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in November this year. The state will witness a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress; the results will set the tone for the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.