Shivraj govt bows to Hindu 'saints'; makes five of them MoS: 10 highlights

A day after getting the 'Minister of State' status, two religious leaders on Wednesday cancelled their proposed stir against an alleged scam in the Narmada conservation programme, while a third one said he would not avail the benefits as MoS. Seeking to downplay the controversy over grant of MoS status to five 'saints,' Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said his government wanted to rope in people from all walks of life for welfare and development. Elsewhere, Bhayyu Maharaj, one of the five religious leaders accorded MoS status, said he would not avail of the benefits associated with the MoS status.

Ahead of the state assembly elections due later this year, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had on Tuesday accorded the MoS status to five Hindu religious leaders - Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant. On March 31, the five were appointed to a committee set up for the Narmada river conservation. As members of the committee, they were being given the MoS status, an official of the General Administration Department had said yesterday.