Cornered by the MPPEB controversy, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan defends himself, taunts opposition via Twitter

In the wake of the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam worth crores of rupees, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to clear his and his wife's name and sent a series of tweets within a span of three hours.

An audit conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Local Fund Audit office for 2007-08, found a difference of about Rs 4 crore in revenue earned from sales of application forms by the MPPEB or 'Vyapam'. The MPPEB conducts entrance and recruitment tests for admission in medical and engineering courses, and selection in certain government services, among others. 

Chouhan used the microblogging site to vent out his anger and defend himself against the allegation. He sent several tweets to air clarifications and counter-charged his rivals and the media of wrongly accusing him.

Chouhan has rubbished the allegations and said he would file a case of defamation

He tweeted earlier to say none of his wife's relatives got selected in the exam through any reservation quota.

Did thru Vyapam 17 relatives of my wife from Gondiya get selected in parivahan arakshak exam? Not even one. Nor from entire maharashtra.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

In another tweet, Chouhan also hit back at the media for not checking facts, saying, "Do they not attempt any fact checking on their own before carrying out such ill-motivated baseless canards in media?" 

Do they not attempt any fact checking on their own before carrying out such ill- motivated baseless canards in media?

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

Referring to the charge that 139 calls were made from the CM house as alleged by K K Mishra, Chouhan tweeted, "They say 139 phone calls from CM House and issue a Call Detail Report (CDR) where not even one call number is from CM house." "Just as a lie has no legs to stand on, a CDR has no legs of its own. It requires substantiation. They do not even see the CDR," he said. 

They say that 139 phone calls from CM house and issue a Call Details Report where not even one call number is from CM house.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

Just as a lie has no legs to stand on, a CDR has no legs of its own. It requires substantiation. They do not even see the CDR.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

He later threatened to file a defamation case.

And I am not going to take it kindly. A clear case of defamation this is.They will soon be served notice.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

He again hinted that the media was biased and did not bother to cover his version on the entire situation.

Whatever little I heard of media norms, they require taking the version of the person against whom allegations are being hurled. And here?

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

The entire list of select parivahan aarakshak was available on the departmental website. They did not care to even have a look at it.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

He said he was determined to cleanse the assessment systems themselves of thuggery so that the youth doesn't feel lost.

Determined to cleanse assessment systems of all thuggery. The youth having nothing else but his genius to declare shouldn't feel lost.

— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) June 23, 2014

Unlike many politicians facing corruption charges, Chouhan has been vocal about the controversy surrounding him. Ironically he belongs to a party which brought down the ruling party on the bases of corruption charges, it is yet to see whether he would fall prey to same.