Congress MLAs object to MP Minister Vijay Shah’s presence in Assembly

Bhopal, July 29 Senior BJP Minister Vijay Shah may have managed to save his ministerial post despite nationwide outrage for his controversial remarks on Colonel Sofia Qureshi, but there seems to be no end to embarrassing moments for him at least here in Madhya Pradesh.

Shah, who is the Tribal Welfare Minister in the Madhya Pradesh government, faced one such embarrassing moment on Tuesday, the second day of the Monsoon session of the state Assembly.

The opposition (Congress) members opposed his presence in the House. Being the Tribal Welfare Minister, Shah was supposed to propose the election members for the committees on welfare of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the House. The moment he stood up to proceed, Congress MLAs strongly objected to his presence in the House.

Some senior BJP Ministers tried to convince the Congress legislators; however, Congress MLAs, led by LoP Umang Singhar, were firm on their decision to boycott Shah. Due to relentless opposition, Shah had to sit back in his chair, and the proposal could not be placed in the House.

Interestingly, Vijay Shah and Congress MLA Unang Singhar, who is LoP in the state Assembly, both belong to the Tribal community.

This embarrassing situation for Vijay Shah in the House came a day after the Supreme Court, while hearing the matter on Monday, rapped him over issuing an 'online' public apology for his controversial remarks against Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, the Indian Army officer who briefed the media throughout Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.

"You are testing our patience! Where is his public apology? That shows his intentions. That makes us more suspicious of his bona fides," a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi remarked during a hearing on Monday.

The Justice Surya Kant-led bench was dealing with a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Shah, challenging the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had directed registration of an FIR against him over his distasteful remarks.

During the hearing, the apex court raised concerns after being informed that the SIT had recorded Shah’s statement, questioning the investigation panel for failing to record the statements from those affected by his controversial remarks. When the bench inquired about the status of the probe, the SIT stated that it is likely to finalise its report by August 13, adding that during the investigation, it recorded statements of several witnesses and reviewed video clips.

Following the SIT’s statement, the apex court posted the matter for hearing on August 18 and directed that a member of the SIT appear before it on the next date of listing with a status report. After the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in an order passed on May 14, suo-moto had ordered the state Director General of Police to register an FIR against Shah, he moved the Supreme Court challenging the FIR registered under Sections 152, 196(1)(b), and 197 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking Vijay Shah’s removal from the ministerial post, contending that he had violated the oath taken under Article 164(3) of the Constitution.

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