Vadragate may have been coming for some time, but the BJP has still missed an opportunity to go for the First Family of the ruling UPA. Not so long ago, a compilation detailing Vadra’s dealings with DLF Ltd was sent to the Kejriwal-Bhushan duo for legal opinion. The seemingly meteoric rise of the Gandhi son-in-law’s business interests in recent years had been attracting some attention. A media report in March 2011, had carried a story on this, but it did not create a political storm since no Opposition party was willing to cross the Lakshman Rekha of Indian politics—of dragging family members of politicians into a public slug-fest. When the “expose” finally came, it was not the BJP that screamed about Vadra’s business practices from the stage. It was Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan. The political rookies, not bound by any established old code in Indian democracy—are naturally keen to attract public attention with dramatic disclosures. More may be in store. Their yet-to-be-named political outfit, which is in its embryonic stage, needs to be in the news. They hint that next in the line of fire is a prominent opposition party leader.
The name-and-hit strategy suits them well. As the usually litigant-happy Bhushan says, “What we’re raising it as a political issue— this exposes the functioning of the political system in this country. We’re in politics now and want to take this up at that level. No one knows better than me how long it takes for the courts to decide on a matter.’’
What he is not saying is that non other DLF shareholder can take the company to court for giving “unsecured loans’’ to ‘friend’ Vadra.
The only documents that the activist-turned-politician duo have produced in the public forum to great effect, pertain to the submissions made by Vadra on the myriad companies that he has floated to Ministry of Corporate Affairs ??the Registrar of Companies. (Vadra seems to have been over-confident to put it all on record. DMK’s Kanimohzi had to spend a few months in jail on corruption charges precisely because of a Rs 200 crore “unsecured’’ loan DB Group gave to Kalaignar TV, which the investigation agency claimed was a pay-off for 2G favours granted to them by then Telecom Minister A.Raja.)
That the DLF could have inked “sweetheart’’ deal with Vadra as part of a quid pro quo—helpful land deals in Haryana and Delhi—all Congress-ruled states—is a “suspicion’’ that Kejriwal has put in front of the people. There is no documentary evidence to back his claims. Both Delhi and Haryana CMs have issued denials. How DLF—which has a debt of nearly `25,000 crore—could afford to give ‘unsecured loans’ of Rs65 crore (however small the amount is, in terms of DLF’s operations) to Vadra to buy properties from its own stable remains in the realm of speculation.
“These are questions,” says a political source aware of the strategies, “Arvind and Prashant know cannot be answered in a court of law. But, these questions can swing public opinion (twitter is already abuzz) and taint the First Family of the Congress party as never before and will keep Sonia Gandhi engaged in fire fighting’’, leaving her little time to resurrect the party or a set the agenda for the political battles ahead.
But the stress of the fractious birth of the Kejriwal party shows on its consitutents and mentors. Anna Hazare has responded to his former wards’ claims by saying that there should be a judicial probe into Vadra’s business dealings. In the same breath, that Kejriwal himself must be probed if his claims prove false!
By default, the Kejriwal-Bhushan team seem to have garnered more credibility that the BJP for the time being. The BJP’s earlier reluctance to go it big in public with the case against Vadra is interesting. He should have been a sitting duck for the party, as the First Family’s son-in-law. All the facts have been out there for over 18 months— in fact, for a whole year before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in March 2012, where Vadra made a minor splash with a motorcycle rally. Except for the usual barbs against dynastic politics, the saffron party chose to stay schtum.
Party observers say senior BJP leaders, particularly the Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, have discouraged personalised attacks. The fact that it’s only a circumstantial case should not have deterred them. Perhaps that is why the BJP sat back, allowing India Against Corruption to do the dirty work. But once the code has been broken, and damage to the Family—the party’s most important asset for four generations—has been done, the main opposition can always righteously seek a judicial probe, no less. Meanwhile, a fresh RTI headache on foreign trips await the Gandhis. After Modi’s public attack targeting Sonia for spending Indian Government money on trips abroad, activist Madhu Kiswar alleges that her RTI application on Rahul Gandhi’s foreign trips (filed on 16.04.2012) has received no answer yet. If Kishwar’ is to be believed, it was a Delhi Congress leader who inspired her to file the application since Rahul’s lifestyle was “mysterious’’. He is “forever running abroad”. “No one knows what he does when he goes abroad. Everything is shrouded in secrecy. He was in all possibility dancing in some Dubai or London discotheque.”
But then, IAC plans to make a splash in Delhi elections. It does not need too many pocket calculators to do the math on who might corner the anti-Congress votes in such an event. As of now, insiders claim, Sonia Gandhi and daughter Priyanka have been sitting glued to their TV set, keeping a close watch on the developments.
