Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi by putting his picture on the campaign poster of its `rape-accused' candidate in an Assembly byelection.
Brahmanand Netam is the BJP's candidate for December 5 bypoll to Bhanupratappur constituency in Kanker district of the state. Hitting back, the BJP said Netam was not a convict, and Baghel himself is an accused in a criminal case.
“BJP is insulting the Honourable Prime Minister by putting his picture with the photo of the rape accused. The country will not tolerate the insult of our Prime Minister. Save the dignity of the post of Prime Minister by voting against BJP,” Baghel tweeted.
The Congress leader also tagged the PM and posted the picture of the poster which has photos of Netam along with PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and other senior BJP leaders.
The bypoll to Bhanupratappur seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA and deputy speaker of the Assembly Manoj Singh Mandavi last month. State BJP spokesperson Kedar Gupta said CM Baghel appeared to be unaware of the difference between an accused and a convict.
“Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are accused in the National Herald case and are out on bail....Baghel ji himself is an accused in the fake CD case. "There is a difference between an accused and a convict. Netam was named as accused as part of a conspiracy hatched by the Congress government,” Gupta said.
On November 20, the ruling Congress alleged that Netam, a former BJP MLA, was accused in a rape case registered at Telco police station in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, on May 15, 2019, but he concealed the information in his election affidavit.
A police team from Telco police station has been camping in Chhattisgarh since Monday to investigate the case where three more persons from Kanker district have been named as accused apart from Netam, a senior Chhattisgarh police official said.
Jharkhand cops had on Tuesday summoned Netam and other three accused for questioning, but they did not turn up, he added.
The BJP accused Baghel of hatching a conspiracy by colluding with the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand to malign Netam's image fearing defeat in the byelection.
(With PTI Inputs)
