Indore, Jun 8 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh secretariat had become a "den" of middlemen where exchange of money used to be discussed when the Congress government was in power, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged here on Monday.

He also accused the erstwhile government of cheating farmers in the name of granting them a loan waiver.

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"The previous government had made the secretariat a den of middlemen where exchange of money used to be discussed," Chouhan told reporters.

He said contractors used to stay put in the secretariat, and even ruling MLAs were unable to meet the then chief minister.

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"I am saying this with a lot of pain that during the previous Congress regime such middlemen used to claim that they can get anything done from government with money power," he alleged.

Chouhan said former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and (22) MLAs joined the BJP because they knew that then Kamal Nath government will ruin the state if it remained in power for long.

He said the spread of coronavirus in the state and in worst-hit Indore has been controlled.

"Recovery rate in Indore has reached 64 per cent while it is about 68 per cent in rest of the state," Chouhan added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)