MP: BJP files complaint against Congress for posting 'false information' on woman sarpanch's caste

Bhopal: The BJP in Madhya Pradesh's Satna district has lodged a police complaint against the Congress for allegedly spreading false information about the caste of a woman sarpanch, who earlier alleged that she was not allowed to hoist the national flag and not offered a chair during a village meeting.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the woman in question belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and was not a Dalit as claimed by the grand old party.

The claims by the two parties came in the wake of the allegations made by Shraddha Singh, the sarpanch of Akouna village panchayat that during the Independence Day celebrations on August 15, she was not allowed to hoist the tricolour and also not given a chair to sit during a gram sabha.

BJP's Satna mandal general secretary Keshav Kori on Monday filed the complaint against the Congress for "posting a message on the issue to mislead people by describing her as a Dalit leader while in reality she belongs to the OBC community".

In a post on X, the Congress on Monday claimed, "A Dalit woman sarpanch of Akouna village was not given a chair to sit in a meeting. When she demanded the chair, those present in the meeting asked her to bring the chair from her home or sit on the floor." "Earlier also she was not allowed to hoist the flag as she belongs to the Dalit community. It is a very serious issue and stern action should be taken against the accused persons" the party said.

However, state BJP's organisation general secretary Hitanand Sharma said on X, "Sarpanch and sachiv (secretary) both belong to the same caste - Kurmi - and it is possible that they might have differences among themselves. Therefore, this (issue) should not be given any caste angle to mislead the people." In the complaint to the City Kotwali police station in Satna, Kori demanded a probe against Congress leaders for posting a misleading message on social media and registration of a case against them.

However, acting on the media reports and woman sarpanch Shraddha Singh's allegations on the issue in a video message on social media, chief executive officer (CEO) of Satna District Panchayat, Sanjana Jain, issued a show-cause notice to Akouna village panchayat secretary.

After recording statements of all concerned, the CEO in her report said that Shraddha Singh reached the place for hoisting the national flag after 9 am instead of the scheduled time of 8 am.

The organisers also called her three times on her phone, but she didn't turn up till 9 am, following which the deputy sarpanch hoisted the national flag.

The probe also revealed that she was offered a chair to sit in the programme.