Tainted turn ‘clean’ in BJP

Hyderabad: The BJP appears to have a purifier effect on ‘tainted’ leaders who join the party. How else does one explain the phenomenon of leaders from opposition parties facing serious charges of corruption and financial irregularities suddenly turning up squeaky clean once they join the saffron party? From Himanta Biswa Sarma to Jyotiraditya Scindia, from […]

Hyderabad: The BJP appears to have a purifier effect on ‘tainted’ leaders who join the party. How else does one explain the phenomenon of leaders from opposition parties facing serious charges of corruption and financial irregularities suddenly turning up squeaky clean once they join the saffron party?

From Himanta Biswa Sarma to Jyotiraditya Scindia, from Suvendhu Adhikari to Mukul Roy and CM Ramesh to YS Chowdary, all were facing the heat from one government investigating agency or the other, and in some cases, banks too, before they switched loyalties to the BJP. Once they came under the saffron flag, voila, they were either declared clean or the CBI, ED or IT cases against them went under the rug. Is this the magic of the ‘Nirma powder from Gujarat’ that union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Patil

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Danve once proudly proclaimed had cleansing power?

Be that as it may, Telangana Today curated a list of opposition politicians facing investigation by CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and other such agencies for ‘serious misdeeds’ and are now virtually free birds after joining the BJP.

One prominent example is Himanta Biswa Sarma, whom the BJP had once accused of involvement in the infamous Louis Berger case (a US-based company) in Assam through a booklet issued at its New Delhi headquarters. But everything changed when Sarma joined BJP in August 2015. Not only does one hear anything about the investigation into the cases against him, but Sarma has since emerged a much stronger person heading the BJP government in Assam!

In March 2020, former union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia decided to quit the Congress and joined the BJP along with 22 MLAs that led to the toppling of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Before his switch over, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Madhya Pradesh was looking afresh into a complaint against Scindia and his family members following accusations of falsifying a property document while selling land in Gwalior in 2009. However, the case was closed soon after he joined the BJP which brought the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government back to power in MP.

Similarly, the then West Bengal Transport Minister Suvendhu Adhikari, a key leader of Trinamool Congress, faced charges from the ED in connection with the Narada sting operation case which exposed some TMC leaders receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of favours. But he joined the BJP in December 2020. Subsequently, the CBI arrested two West Bengal Ministers, a TMC MLA and a former TMC leader in May 2021, but Adhikari, now Opposition leader in the WB Assembly, was untouched.

Similar is the case of TMC general secretary-turned-BJP MP Mukul Roy, an accused in the Sharada chit fund scam. He has not been hassled by any of the investigating agencies after he joined BJP in November, 2017.

In June 2019, CM Ramesh and YS Chowdary, two of the four TDP Rajya Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh, crossed over to the BJP. Both are industrialists and were under the scanners of Income Tax, CBI and ED. The BJP MP and spokersperson GVL Narasimha Rao had even termed the duo as “Andhra Mallyas with massive financial scandals” and wrote to the Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee, seeking initiation of ‘suitable action’ against them. But since their joining the BJP, there has been no action and all investigations against them are moving slower than a snail’s pace.

In the latest such incident, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee working president and Patidar movement leader Hardik Patel joined the BJP. He was an accused in at least 30 cases filed against him during the Patidar movement between 2015 and 2018. Hardik Patel was not even in a position to contest the Parliamentary election due to his conviction in a rioting case. The BJP-led Gujarat government took steps to withdraw several cases lodged against him and others in connection with the 2015 quota agitation.

He is currently facing court proceedings in at least 11 cases which are at various stages of trial including the offence of sedition. By his own admission, cases against him are being withdrawn. “Cases against me are being withdrawn, but I want cases against my colleagues also to be withdrawn,” he says without any qualms.

While the BJP clearly gained from Opposition leaders defecting to its fold in most cases, there are instances where the leaders benefited from this lucrative offer an returned to their original party. For instance, NCP rebel leader Ajit Pawar was rumoured to join the BJP and he had even accompanied Devendra Fadnavis who was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a second term. To everyone’s shock, there were reports of the investigation being closed in nine irrigation projects over alleged scam where Ajit Pawar was being probed as he was the then Irrigation Minister.

But less than four days later, Fadnavis resigned and Pawar had no choice but to return to NCP which formed Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi in alliance with Shiv Sena and Congress to form the government. The ACB, however, which was probing the irrigation scam cases, filed an affidavit in the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, clearing Ajit Pawar in all irrigation scam cases.