BJP can’t forget perception matters in politics

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP has chosen to rally behind its president Nitin Gadkari who is at the centre of a raging controversy after several media reports questioned the sources of funding for Purti Power and Sugar Limited (PPSL), a company owned by him.

Reports claim that significant investments and large loans to Purti were made by a construction firm, Ideal Road Builders Group, which had won contracts between 1995 and 1999 when Gadkari was Maharashtra’s PWD Minister.

Besides IRB Group, the other significant shareholders in Purti are said to be a clutch of 16 companies. It is alleged that most of the addresses at which these companies are registered are fake. Reports claim that the directors of these investor companies include Gadkari’s driver and his accountant.

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Congress is synonymous with corruption

Saswat Panigrahi

In the backdrop of a series of big ticket scams hitting the nation hard, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is waxing eloquent on matters of corruption.

While addressing the annual conference of the CBI and state anti-corruption agencies, the PM maintained that his Government is doing “everything possible” to ensure “probity”, “transparency” and “accountability”.

One can’t help thinking of the Prime Minister’s mounting number of platitudes regarding corruption as the devil preaching the  scripture. This came at a time when the Congress party and the UPA 
Government it leads are both neck-deep in corruption.

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Sons-in-law are not above the law

Saswat Panigrahi

Senior Supreme Court advocate and India Against Corruption leader Prashant Bhushan have levelled serious allegations of financial malfeasance against the Gandhi dynasty son-in-law Robert Vadra.

In a press conference in the national capital, Bhushan claimed that five companies set up by Vadra and his mother had a total capital share of just Rs 50 lakh in 2007. But, the Vadra-owned companies acquired properties worth well over Rs 300 crore during 2007-2010, whose market value is more than Rs 500 crore, he claimed.

The seed money for the acquisition came from “unsecured interest-free loans” of Rs 65 crore by realty giant DLF in exchange for “favours” received from Congress-led governments in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, the anti-corruption activist alleged.

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BJP must get its act together

Saswat Panigrahi

Symbolism has its own importance in politics. And the BJP knows it all too well.

During its recent National Executive and National Council meetings at Surajkund in Haryana, the party sounded the poll bugle. It drew parallels between the upcoming general election and the epic war of Mahabharat.

“In the coming Mahabharat, truth will triumph and corruption will be the loser.” This was the underlying message with which BJP wrapped up its crucial meet.

The meet was held in the backdrop of the Congress-led UPA Government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, hike diesel prices and imposed a cap on subsidised LPG. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continues to justify the “need” for such measures as part of his Government’s “hard economic decisions” to “reverse the slowdown.”

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