Baghel defends govt move to take over medical college linked to kin; BJP alleges favouritism

A bill proposed by the Chhattisgarh government to take over a private medical college has triggered a controversy with the opposition BJP on Tuesday alleging it was aimed at "favouring" people associated with the institute, whose management includes members from a family in which Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's daughter is married.

The chief minister, in a series of tweets, denied the allegations of wrongdoing and favouritism, terming them as "baseless", and defended the government's move to take over the college located in Durg district.

The row erupted after a newspaper reported that the Congress government is to introduce a bill in the assembly to acquire the Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College (CCMMC), whose management team includes members from a family in which Baghel's daughter is married.

"Various speculations are being made on a news published on Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College. They all are baseless. This (the bill) is an attempt to save the future of a medical college and hundreds of students in the state. This will save the time of setting up a new medical college and every year the state will get 150 doctors," Baghel tweeted.

"As far as kinship (rishtedari) and vested interests are concerned, I want to tell the people of my state that Bhupesh Baghel is accountable to them and he has always done politics with transparency. There will always be transparency in the government. Once the deal is done, everything will be clear," he said.

The CM said his government is guided only by public interest.

"This controversy has emerged from imagination. I challenge this. If there is a question of public interest, the government will also buy a private medical college and (steel) plant at Nagarnar. We are in favour of the public sector and will continue to remain so. We are not selling public property like them (apparently referring to the BJP)," said Baghel.

Hitting out at the ruling Congress, senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal said the bill, cleared by the cabinet but yet to be tabled in the assembly, is an attempt to benefit people associated with the college.

Asked about the media report, Agrawal termed the issue as ''unique and strange'' and said "it seems it is being done (referring to the proposed bill) to benefit people associated with the college. Otherwise, there are several colleges which have been facing losses and are they going to acquire it all?'' The former minister alleged that "earlier Medical Council of India (MCI) had registered an offence against CCMMC for forgery. In my knowledge, the college has a debt of over Rs 300 crore. In the proposed bill there is no mention of loan repayment and process to accommodate doctors and employees working there." This proposed acquisition has put the state government and the CM in the dock, Agrawal claimed.

"In the proposed bill, it has been mentioned that the college will be given Rs 140 crore per year but it is not clear for how long. A new medical college can be set up with Rs 140 crore", he claimed. Union minister and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia also slammed the Baghel government over the issue.

''Bhupesh Baghel is trying to buy his son-in-law's private college from government funds to save it. The state money is used for his son-in-law, a medical college that was accused of fraud by the Medical Council of India. The definition of who is salable and who is sustainable is now clear!,'' Scindia tweeted.

In the wake of the controversy, the state government issued a statement, saying the decision to acquire the medical college has been taken in the interest of people and students, and for speedy expansion of medical education.

The draft of the bill to acquire CCMMC Durg was approved in the cabinet meeting on July 20 and it will be tabled in the assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Chaubey said in a release.

The monsoon session of the assembly is underway and is scheduled to conclude on July 30.

''The state government has decided to acquire the college in the interest of the people and students with an aim of speedy expansion of medical education. ''With this, a ready-made health infrastructure could be acquired in the state. Usually it takes around Rs 500 crore and a lot of time to build the infrastructure of a medical college,'' Chaubey said. With the acquisition of the 150-seat college recognised by the MCI, the people of the state will be able to get the benefit of one more government medical college at half the cost, the Congress minister added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)