After over a month’s procrastination, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has finally managed to work up the courage to sack controversial minister Mahipal Maderna, facing charges of rape, kidnapping and murder of the government nurse. The fact that it took him 45 days to act after the minister’s name came up in connection with the disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi is itself proof that it was not an act of righteous contriteness or even an honest attempt to cleanse his government of the corrupt and crooked elements within it. It took a local court’s intervention to get the minister charged even as the state dragged its feet. The Rajasthan High Court, during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by Bhanwari Devi’s husband, slammed the state police of ‘going slow in the case’ and accused the state government of acting ‘hand in glove’ to save the minister.
The month-and-half long delay which earned the Gehlot government the epithet of being ‘one of the weakest governments in the history of the state’ from the high court, should be enough to silence Congress leaders attacking the BJP on the issue of corruption by referring to B S Yeddyurappa’s case. In sharp contrast, the BJP had lost no time in asking Yeddyurappa to quit after the Karnataka Lokayukta’s report named him.
Unfortunately for the Congress and Gehlot, sacking of Maderna does not mean end of their troubles. Already in the dock for the killing of Muslims in Bharatpur, Rajasthan’s Congress-led government is in neck-deep trouble as nearly a dozen of its ministers are facing charges of corruption and misconduct. Topping the list of erratic ministers against whom the Gehlot has failed to take any action is the minister of state for civil supplies Babulal Nagar, who is being accused of corruption in the allotment of foodgrains under the public distribution system. Though the anti-corruption bureau initiated a probe after the Prime Minister’s Office intervened, Nagar continues to keep his job.