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Issue:January' 2018

RACE IN BHOPAL

Diggy’s road difficult

N D Sharma

Kamal Nath IT raids on Kamal Nath's associates

Was it Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s tactical mistake or part of ‘match-fixing’ that made him complacent with the result that he found himself on the defensive following Income Tax raids on the establishments of several people, some of them close or presumed to be close to him?

In its Assembly election manifesto, the Congress had listed a number of serious scams of the BJP government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and promised prompt action against the wrong-doers if the party came to power. It said it would set up a ‘people’s commission’ to probe the scams of the BJP government from the year 2008 to 2018; the scams named were Vyapam scam, dumper scam, house building society scam, electricity scam, wheat purchase scam, wheat transport scam, onion scam, cooperative banks insurance scam, appointments scam, sand mining scam, information technology and public service guarantee scam, Etendering scam, government advertisements distribution scam, plantations on the banks of river Narmada scam, and pension and scholarship scam.

The commission would comprise legal experts, educationists, representatives of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, journalists and women.

Modi thundered in his election speeches that a ‘Tughlaq Road scam’ had come to light involving the loot of the money meant for the poor and pregnant women. (Kamal Nath, as MP, had his residence on Tughlaq Road in Delhi; Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s official residence is also on Tughlaq Road).

Kamal Nath was sworn in on December 17 and was able to somehow form his cabinet by December 25. He just hemmed and hawed for over three months without taking any decision on constituting the ‘people’s commission’ or getting the investigation started into the alleged scams listed in the manifesto. As he remained complacent, the Income Tax Department raided, on April 7, the establishments of several people; they included R K Miglani, Kamal Nath’s political adviser for four decades, Praveen Kakkad whom Kamal Nath had appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in CM’s office and Ashwin Sharma, an associate of Praveen Kakkad.

The BJP gave Digvijaya Singh a head start of over three weeks for his campaign. It floated several names, including those of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Uma Bharti, and sitting MP Alok Sanjar, creating the impression in the public mind as if the BJP did not have a formidable candidate to take on Digvijaya Singh.

While the raids were going on, Modi thundered in his election speeches that a ‘Tughlaq Road scam’ had come to light involving the loot of the money meant for the poor and pregnant women. (Kamal Nath, as MP, had his residence on Tughlaq Road in Delhi; Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s official residence is also on Tughlaq Road).

He told an election meeting in Junagarh that ‘searches in Madhya Pradesh have detected a wide-spread and well-organised racket of collection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore through various persons in different walks of life including business, politics and public service. Now it has got a new name, and with proof. The Congress is indulging in a ‘Tughlaq Road chunavi ghotala’ (electoral scam) where money meant for the poor is being usurped for their own leaders; money meant for pregnant women is being looted’, he said.

Kamal Nath woke up three days later and directed Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Madhya Pradesh police to investigate the E-tendering scam of the Chouhan government. The EOW promptly registered an FIR in the Rs 3,000-crore scam under Sections of 120-B, 420, 468, 471, of IPC, Section 66 of IT Act, and also under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against unnamed directors and marketing heads of several companies with their headquarters at Hyderabad, Vadodara, Mumbai and Bhopal.

The scam allegedly involves several top bureaucrats and some members of the Chouhan cabinet. The investigators feel that the software of Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation (MPSEDC) was breached and it led to a Rs 3,000-crore scam forcing the government to revoke nine of its major tenders floated in 2018. The investigators feel that if all tenders floated by MPSEDC since 2013 are examined, the scam may exceed Rs 80,000 crore.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan B K Kuthiyala Digvijaya Singh

Involvement of Chouhan, as well as of several of his ministers, is alleged in the scam. As the EOW registered the case, a section of the press speculated and mentioned names of some members of the Chouhan cabinet in this connection. Kusum Mehdele, who was the Public Health Engineering (PHE) minister, promptly retorted that the file of the alleged scam was cleared not by her but by the Chief Minister himself. She said the tender was issued not by PHE but by Jal Nigam (Water Corporation) which was headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself. She added that the file did not have her signature anywhere.

Later, a case was also registered against 20 teaching staff members of Makhanlal Chaturvedi University of Journalism including its former ViceChancellor B K Kuthiyala under Sections 409 (Criminal Breach of Trust), 420 (Cheating), and 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the IPC and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. More cases were expected to be filed in the days to come but the damage done by Modi’s imitative for campaign propaganda could not be undone.

The delayed registration of cases deprived Kamal Nath the advantage which was snatched by Narendra Modi. The question, however, remains if Kamal Nath did it deliberately and kept the investigation of scams on hold to ‘fix’ with the State BJP leadership about the Bhopal seat. When Rajya Sabha member and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s name was announced on March 23 as the Congress candidate from the Bhopal lok Sabha constituency, I was away from Bhopal. A few days later, a keen Digvijaya-watcher sent me a message saying ‘it’s fixed. He (Digvijaya Singh) was offered Rajgarh (constituency) and (he) declined. Said he wanted to fight from Varanasi against Modi (but) High Command said no. Then he said he wanted a more prestigious seat than Rajgarh. He and Kamal Nath decided on Bhopal because it would be easier to fix’. Bhopal is considered a BJP stronghold and it has been sending only BJP candidate to Lok Sabha since 1989.

The BJP announced on April 17 the name of Pragya Singh Thakur, who is on bail in the Malegaon blast case and is a novice in politics. After nomination, her very first statement making obnoxious comments on celebrated IPS officer Hemant Karkare, who was killed while fighting terrorists during Mumbai terror attack on November 26, 2008, had invited country-wide protests and made the BJP officially disassociate itself from Pragya Singh’s observation.

Pragya Singh Thakur The BJP gave Digvijaya Singh a head start of over three weeks for his campaign. In the meantime, it floated several names, including those of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Uma Bharti, and sitting MP Alok Sanjar, creating the impression in the public mind as if the BJP did not have a formidable candidate to take on Digvijaya Singh.
Eventually the party announced on April 17 the name of Pragya Singh Thakur, who is on bail in the Malegaon blast case and is a novice in politics. After nomination, her very first statement making obnoxious comments on celebrated IPS officer Hemant Karkare, who was killed while fighting terrorists during Mumbai terror attack on November 26, 2008, had invited country-wide protests and made the BJP officially disassociate itself from Pragya Singh’s observation.