BJP in dilemma over min Shah; CM to decide after parleys with party top brass

Bhopal: Is it enough or not. Whether it is time to act against Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah! The MP govt finds itself in a catch-22 situation after the strong observation by the Supreme Court that asked the govt to decide in 15 days about sanction to prosecute Shah over his derogatory remarks made against Col Sofiya Qureshi, during the Operation Sindoor last year.The state BJP is likely to wait for the return of chief minister Mohan Yadav from his official tour to Davos for the World Economic Forum to finally decide the fate of the minister and tribal leader Vijay Shah (63). The chief minister is scheduled to return on Jan 23.
Sources in the party said that the party high-command and the govt will take a call on the issue in the light of the fresh developments because Shah is a senior tribal leader, an eight-time MLA since 1990 – not losing a single election from Harsud assembly constituency in three decades -- and the most prominent face of his community in the Mohan Yadav regime. He was minister in the successive govts headed by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and held important portfolios like panchayats and rural development, food and civil supplies, tribal welfare, forests and tourism.His derogatory army officer, Col Sofiya Qureshi, is not a first. Vijay Shah has been a repeated offender when it came to shooting off his mouth, especially against women. And yet, the BJP endured him because of social and political reasons. He hails from the Gond tribal royal family of Makrai and has immense influence in the community.In April 2013, he had to resign from the cabinet after an alleged passing comment made on then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's wife Sadhna Singh at a public meeting in Ratlam. But after a few months, he found his way back as a minister in the state govt.Shah is a major dilemma for the BJP and has always been every time he overstepped his limits. The state has 47 tribal reserved seats of which 26 presently have BJP MLAs and Congress not far behind with 21. Tribals have essentially been the Congress' vote-bank but the shift started towards the BJP since the 2003 assembly elections when Congress was reduced to 38 seats in a House of 230.According to state BJP leaders, there are a total 82 SC and ST reserved seats and without winning them, no party can form govt in Madhya Pradesh.While the Congress has layers of tribal leadership in the party, the BJP basically has two main faces – former Union minister and seven-time MP from Mandla constituency Faggan Singh Kulaste and cabinet minister Vijay Shah. The Congress' tribal faces in the state are far too many including LOP Umang Singhar, former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria, former ministers Bala Bachchan, Omkar Singh Markam, Sukhdeo Phanse and Adivasi Congress national president Dr Vikrant Bhuria.There is a two crore tribal population in the state with over 21% voters and the community can influence at least 60 more assembly constituencies in addition to the 47 ST reserved seats. In this situation, the BJP might still not be wanting to let go of Vijay Shah.Amid the col Sofiya Qureshi controversy on May 14, chief minister Mohan Yadav, former BJP state president VD Sharma and state party organisational general secretary Hitanand Sharma called Vijay Shah for a closed-door meeting. Here, Shah was advised to resign and lie low. However, the minister was adamant; he refused to resign and argued that he was taking the matter to the courts. No one could stop him seeing his seniority and his tribal status.Meanwhile, bureaucratic circles in the state too are abuzz with speculations that Shah has had a long rope and with SC intervening, BJP will have to dump him, now.Meanwhile bureaucratic circles in the state are abuzz with speculations about action against Shah. "Govt had stood by Shah so far, but now it's going to be difficult for the govt," said a senior officer in the state secretariat.It is being speculated that Shah may be dumped by the party in the log-awaited rejig of the Mohan Yadav cabinet. How things would shape up will be known only after the chief minister is back in Bhopal.