Reporters' diary: Figures killed the scam

Figures killed the scam: Chhattisgarh’s PDS scam sparked a political hurricane threatening to unseat Raman Singh, the three-time Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister of the state. As per anti-corruption bureau probe findings, Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) headquarters had fixed a share in the booty collected from rice millers by the ground level officers at the rate of Rs 4 per kg of rice procured from them for distribution among influential people in the state’s power corridors.

The Opposition had initially pegged the scam at Rs 30,000 crore and mounted a strong attack on the Raman Singh government. However, the Congress took everyone by surprise when it revised the scam figures to Rs 1.5 lakh crore. This gave the government a leeway. “Total money spent on PDS in the state in last 12 years came to Rs 29,000 crore. How could there be a corruption of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in PDS?” state higher education minister Prem Prakash Pandey observed.
Amidst fears of the issue being pushed to the backburner, the question doing the rounds of the political circles is “Who killed the scam?” “Certainly not the BJP,” political watchers say.

God save the U.P. Congress: If the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is unable to find a sure footing in the state, it has its own leaders to blame. At a recent demonstration against the Akhilesh government in Lucknow, Congress legislators joined the demonstration with their gunners in tow. As party workers approached the police barricades, the MLAs sneaked out with their gunners, leaving the workers alone to face the police’s wrath.

The ones in the rough with the party cadres were All-India Congress Committee general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, senior party member Raj Babbar and Uttar Pradesh Congress committee chief Nirmal Khatri. These three were also at the receiving end of a few lathis from the police. Next day, when Congress MLAs raised heckles in the state Assembly over the lathicharge, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Azam Khan denied it. “There has been no lathicharge... if there had been any use of force, I am sure some MLAs would have been injured. But not even one of them has received a scratch...” he said, smiling the whole time. This prompted Congress MLAs to sheepishly return to their seats.

Tattler Tarun: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi is known to be a shrewd speaker. But the recent departure of his blue-eyed boy and former health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to the BJP has forced him to speak his mind openly. When asked the reasons behind the two friends’ falling out, Mr Gogoi refused to call Mr Sarma’s departure an act of betrayal. But calling the switch to BJP Mr Sarma’s personal choice, Mr Gogoi went on to say, “I don’t want to bitter my relationship now by recalling as to how I helped Himanta by ignoring many Congressmen. There is no point in reminding how I fought for the licence of his news channel with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and got it for him.” In the same vein, Mr Gogoi said, “He was my blue-eyed boy. In fact I also know the political game for which he went to the BJP but I don’t want to reveal it now...” Mr Gogoi’s response was uncharacteristic in that it revealed a lot and yet left people guessing.