Digvijaya Singh ends fast over delayed compensation to farmers

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Sunday ended his seven-day-long fast here seeking immediate disbursal of compensation to farmers affected by the crop damage and a CBI probe into alleged MPPEB scam.

Singh also gave a 15-day ultimatum to administration to do the needful and threatened to approach court of law if "justice is not done to affected farmers".

Singh ended his fast, which he had begun near the collectorate on Monday, in presence of his MLA son Jaivardhan Singh, former MP and his brother Laxman Singh and the state unit party vice-president Rameshwar Neekhra.

He accused Guna district administration of "misleading" Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the in-charge minister concerned on the issue, saying, "If farmers do not get justice in the next 15 days, I will knock the doors of the court on the issue."

Singh demanded that the survey on crop losses and the distribution of aid be completed within 15 days and the process be videographed.

He also asked Congress workers to record the distribution process on their end as well.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said that the prevailing drought-like conditions, price rise in rail fares etc. do not herald onset of "Acche Din" (good days). "(In this background) Do you think good days are coming...?" he said.

Raising doubts over "capability" of the Special Task Force (STF) which is probing the alleged Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam, Singh said that the scope of the case is wide as candidates from other states are also involved in the irregularities.

"Is STF capable of questioning such outsiders? Only CBI is capable of doing so," he said while demanding an inquiry by the central agency into the admission and recruitment examination scam that rocked the state since last month.

"Even Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has termed the MPPEB scam as bigger than Bihar's fodder scam,"  Singh said.

"Mining baron Sudhir Sharma is one of the main accused in the scam. It is a serious matter that he is still absconding," he said.

The state government had already announced a reward of Rs 5,000 on Sharma.