Indore: Local BJP leaders in Indore have been complaining for months that district officials are bypassing them and taking orders directly from Bhopal, leaving elected representatives sidelined during critical situations. The pattern, which senior party figures say has persisted for some time, came into focus during the Bhagirathpura water contamination crisis—an emergency that they say exposed structural tension within the Madhya Pradesh BJP.
State minister and BJP’s Indore MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya had flagged the issue even before the water contamination crisis unfolded. “Officials would intimidate us by taking your name,” he reportedly told CM Mohan Yadav during a review meeting in December 2025.
BJP’s command system in Indore is further complicated by the chief minister also serving as the district’s prabhari mantri—the party official who holds overriding authority over councillors, even MLAs. The prabhari mantri is an internal BJP organisational role that is handed over by the party and has no statutory or administrative authority.
But this dual role involving the chief minister, party insiders say, encourages authorities to prioritise directions from Bhopal instead of local leadership.
Local councillors said they complained to civic officials about contaminated water being supplied in Bhagirathpura, weeks before it killed 10 people and sent hundreds of others to the hospital.
“We had been complaining about the issue (water contamination) for months but the officials here don’t take our calls or respond to our complaints,” Kamal Waghela, a BJP councillor, told ThePrint last week. According to Indore BJP leaders, seniors, including the chief minister, were directly involved in steering the party’s response to the water crisis.
“Every month, Mohan Yadav comes to Indore as he is the prabhari mantri. Now, these local leaders have become the scapegoat but someone should ask why these officials weren’t listening to the Indore leaders. Maybe they’re listening to Bhopal,” said a source in Indore BJP.
The source added, “This incident is a serious lapse in administration. There should have been preventive action as soon as complaints started coming in. Loss of life is unacceptable.”
In response to the Bhagirathpura situation, Vijayvargiya was called to Delhi for consultations with the central leadership. According to party sources, the meeting was aimed at streamlining the party’s public messaging on the crisis and ensuring that statements by leaders align with the government’s official position.
Vijayvargiya later returned to Indore, where he met local leaders and officials, signalling tighter political oversight of the situation.
Opposition steps up attack
The episode has fuelled Opposition attacks on BJP’s “triple-engine” governance narrative used to refer to the party’s control of governments at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh, and the Indore civic body.
Seizing on the complaints by local leaders, Congress spokesperson Harsh Jain demanded that BJP leaders must face action.
“The BJP leaders are blaming the officials and saying the officials aren’t listening to them, not picking up their calls despite having a ‘triple-engine’ government in the state. Then, (along) with officials, they (BJP leaders) should also get suspended,” said Jain.
Action has been taken against six senior civic officials after the Bhagirathpura water contamination crisis. This includes removal of Indore Municipal Commissioner Dilip Kumar Yadav and suspension of Additional Commissioner Rohit Sisoniya along with others.
On 4 January, a group of Congress workers came to Bhagirathpura to meet the affected families but were stopped by BJP workers and shown black flags.
“We were just trying to meet the family members there but BJP created a scene and stopped us. We can visit the families, right? But they wanted to create the scene,” said a Congress worker who was part of the group.
But a BJP worker said the Congress came to the ground to do politics. “They are not from here. They are outsiders. They just wanted to disturb the peace,” the BJP worker said.
Residents in Bhagirathpura said political attention from the crisis had tapered even as 120 residents of the industrial colony were still being treated at hospitals. Many said the crisis had turned into a blame game between parties, with little clarity on who was ultimately responsible for preventing the tragedy.
“Both the parties are doing politics, the name of our area is getting ruined. No one is helping the families but they have come here for their own benefits,” said Manoj, a Bhagirathpura resident.
Congress PCC chief Jeetu Patwari held a press conference last week and said what happened in Indore was not negligence but a failure of the system.
“Indore was once known across the country for cleanliness; today it is being discussed because of deaths in Bhagirathpura. This is not just negligence, it is a failure of the system. The Congress will hold meetings in every ward, interact with people, pay tribute to the deceased and expose the failures of the municipal corporation,” said Patwari.
“I urge citizens — irrespective of ideology — to strengthen the opposition when corruption enters their homes. We will fulfil our responsibility as the Opposition and demand a statewide audit of water storage and supply systems,” he added.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)