BHOPAL: The state government on Tuesday accorded the minister of state (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders as TOI reported.

 This political move was slammed by the opposition party Congress.

The MoS status has been confered to Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.

On March 31, these five religiousand spritual Gurus cum leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada River. As members of the committee, they have been accorded the MoS status, a GAD official said on Tuesday. However, Congress criticized the decision as an attempt by the BJP to take advantage of religious sentiments of people for political gains.

“It's a political gimmick. This is also an effort by the chief minister to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada. These saints should inspect where the state government has planted six crore saplings (along the river banks) as claimed by the CM,” said Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi to TOI.

On the other hand State BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said the opposition Congress every time finds objections anything done in respect to saints. “Saints and seers were accorded the MoS status to make their work of environment and river conservation more easy. They were largely roped in for the Narmada conservation work to ensure more public participation,” Agrawal said.

Worth mentioning here the state assembly elections will be held this year.