Congress demands Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon's removal from cabinet after viral video row

BHOPAL: The ruling BJP was jolted two days ahead of the winter session of MP assembly when a video went viral showing a woman calling minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon a 'rapist'.
Dattigaon, who had quit Congress to join BJP along with Jyotiraditya Scindia in March 2020, refused to speak on the issue. State BJP senior spokesman Dr Hitesh Vajpayee said the video and the accusation are fake.The woman then released a video, saying the first one has no connection with her or the minister. The opposition Congress demands an inquiry.
The first video was allegedly shot at a resort in Badnawar, Dattigaon's constituency. A young woman is seen asking the resort employees about the whereabouts of Dattigaon, who is minister for industrial policy and investment promotion.
"Where is Rajvardhan?" she asks and demands to see the resort's owner. A resort employee asks her to talk about the minister with respect. In reply, she alleges he is a "rapist" and "won't get a ticket to contest next year's assembly election". She also claims that the minister will "fall at her feet" and shows some photographs on her mobile phone to the resort employees.
The Congress on Friday held a joint press conference by former minister PC Sharma and party's media cell chief KK Mishra. "We want the BJP government to say why the woman in the video says that the minister will fall at her feet. She also alleges that he is a rapist," Sharma said.
The Congress is reacting with caution since the video shows a young man, who is identified as Neer Prajapati - the son of Congress leader and former Speaker NP Prajapati - in the background while the woman makes her allegations. Sharma said Congress wants a fair probe into the video, even if an investigation is conducted on the presence of a party leader's son on the scene.
"The day after the video was shot, at least 20 supporters of the minister forced entry into the resort and ransacked it. On Thursday, the same woman makes another video and changes her statement," Sharma said.
In the second video that again went viral, the young woman says, "Through social media, I have come across a video that is being said to be mine. This video is totally wrong and has no connection with either me or Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon. He is a respectable man and I respect him."
Congress leader Mishra argued that the woman "went hostile under pressure from the ruling party". "Congress demands to know why supporters of the minister, including a Vijay Singh Pawar and Dharmendra Singh Rathod, ransacked the resort if the minister is innocent and has no connection with the woman in the video," Mishra said, alleging that the woman's parents were threatened and made to sign 20 blank papers.
Congress also circulated social media posts and photographs of a woman with the minister. "We are surprised that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and home minister Narottam Mishra have not spoken a single word on this issue," Sharma said, adding: "We demand an investigation into the viral videos, the removal of the minister from the cabinet and a narco test on the woman so that truth will prevail. Why have police not confiscated her mobile phone?"
LOP Dr Govind Singh said, "I want to ask home minister Narottam Mishra why no action has been taken against the woman who has defamed a minister of the government?"
While Dattigaon refused to comment, BJP leader Hitesh Vajpayee said, "All accusations and videos are fake and intended to malign the image of Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon. That is why no complaint has been registered anywhere. This is just a political stunt, rather the dirty politics of the Congress party."