Bhopal, Jan 21 (IANS): BJP MLA Riti Pathak on Tuesday accused Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla, who also holds the portfolio of the Health and Family Welfare Department, of not clearing Rs 7 crore fund, which was sanctioned for infrastructure development in Sidhi district hospital.

Interestingly, Pathak made this claim in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla.

Sidhi MLA Pathak said she had written to Deputy CM Shukla, however, no reply has been received.

Meanwhile, Pathak also criticised the Deputy Chief Minister, saying that he should set out from his home district Rewa and focus on the health infrastructure of other districts also.

"Rajendra Shukla is called Vikas Purush, but he should not limit it to his home district Rewa only and work for the development of Sidhi, too. Sidhi district hospital should be provided with all facilities," Pathak stated during a programme in Jabalpur on Monday.

Notably, Shukla and Pathak belong to neighbouring districts - Rewa and Sidhi of the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh.

Sources told IANS that Pathak met Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to raise this issue on Monday.

The opposition Congress, which is already suffering from high factionalism, took this opportunity to hit at the ruling BJP, alleging that the situation has come to such a pass that the party is not listening to its legislator.

Sidhi-based senior Congress leader Ajay Singh also took a jibe at the ruling party, saying the BJP leaders had fought elections on development, but once the polls were over, they began to blame one another.

"Imagine that when Rs 7 crore has disappeared from a district, what is going on in 55 districts is imaginable," said former LoP in the MP Assembly Ajay Singh.

Before being elected as an MLA from Sidhi, Pathak was twice elected as MP from the same place. Pathak is the only one sent by the Centre to the state, who was not made a minister.