The opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh has demanded resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda, alleging that one of the three accused arrested in the seizure of 907 kg of contraband drug mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 1814 crore from Bhopal, is ” very close” to the Deputy CM.

MP Congress president Jitu Patwari told media persons on Monday that the accused Harish Aanjana arrested from Mandsaur in the state on Sunday is a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and has more than 500 videos on his social media profile where he can be seen with Jagdish Devda. Devda is a six-time BJP MLA from the Malhargarh assembly constituency in Mandsaur.

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“We demand the resignation of Deputy CM Jagdish Devda,” Patwari said, displaying photos of the accused Harish Aanjana. “I want to ask the Prime Minister and the MP CM will they now seek the resignation of MP Deputy CM Jagdish Devda?” he questioned. He mocked the BJP saying that drug business in the state capital Bhopal flourished right under the nose of the government in the state ruled by the saffron party for nearly 25 years.

He said the Gujarat ATS and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) from New Delhi were working on a tip off and leads for around one month but they did not involve the state police which had no clue about the operation. Patwari alleged that the intelligence system in MP has completely failed. “MP is not ruled by BJP or MP chief minister Mohan Yadav but by mafias,” he went on to allege.

Congress Rajya Sabha Member Digvijaya Singh also launched a scathing attack on the state’s BJP government over the issue, saying on Monday that the MP police and intelligence system have been left red-faced after such a major seizure by teams of the Gujarat ATS and NCD Delhi from a factory located in the industrial area of the MP Audhyogik Vikas Nigam (AKVN) in Bagroda in Bhopal.

Singh alleged that the MP police provides protection and in return takes money form such drug dealers and they work freely in the saffron ruled state and even congratulated the Gujarat ATS and NCB New Delhi for their action.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav said through his social media profile that the state government is fully committed to cooperating thoroughly with all central agencies and the union government in the fight against drugs.

The Mandsaur district is also famous for cultivation of poppy plants and seeds from which opium is made. According to the information available on the Government Opium and Alkaloid Factories site of the Department of Revenue under the Union Finance Ministry, Mandsaur in MP and Chittorgarh and Jhalawar districts of Rajasthan constitute about 80 per cent of the total area of poppy cultivation in the country. The poppy cultivation in Mandsaur is spread in an area of over 1.46 lakh acre.