Hitting out at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, former minister and senior BJP leader Brijmohan Agrawal said that religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj was arrested only to appease central leadership of Congress.

Agrawal told IANS that the Baghel government became active to arrest Kalicharan only after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi tweeted about the event and the speech.

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“Why did the Baghel government not act before Priyanka Gandhi’s tweet? The promptness after her tweet shows that the Chhattisgarh government acted only to make Priyanka Gandhi and Congress central leadership happy,” Agrawal said.

Agrawal, also a member of state assembly, questioned the way the religious leader was arrested from Madya Pradesh.

He said, “Arrest was made without following the procedure like informing state police and production warrant. He was neither served notice nor asked to record his statement. A Government is saying a religious leader was arrested for making abusive statements but it failed to understand that the section imposed for abusing a person is bailable.”

Agrawal, one of the senior-most MLA of the saffron party, asked why the chief minister failed to act against people who abused and insulted Lord Ram, goddess Sita or the whole Brahmin community.

He also demanded the release of Kalicharan.

On Thursday, Kalicharan was arrested for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

He was arrested by a team of Chhattisgarh police from Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho and taken to Raipur.

The arrest was made on the complaint filed by Congress leader Pramod Dubey, who had also attended the ‘Dharma Sansad’.

Kalicharan’s arrest from Madhya Pradesh has triggered a political war of words between the ruling parties in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had accused the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government of “breaching inter-state protocol”.

Mishra has also directed Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Vivek Johri to speak to Chhattisgarh DGP on the matter of breach of inter-state protocol.