CBI its only steadfast ally
Abhimanyu
THE Congress led UPA government has yet again proved that it could go to any extent to use the CBI to settle political vendetta. 48 hours after the DMK pulled out of government, the CBI swung into action and raided Chennai premises of the DMK heir apparent, M.K. Stalin.
Congress believes that it was Stalin, who forced his father, DMK supremo, M. Karunanidhi to withdraw support from the UPA-II.
But the Congress move to use the CBI as its tool completely boomeranged. Sensing trouble, the finance minister, P. Chidambaram was the first to come out in the open to criticise the raid. “ Normally I don’t comment on the working of another department but in this case I have to say that I strongly disapprove of the CBI’s action. It is bound to be misunderstood. I have conveyed my views to the Minister in-charge,” he said. Shri Chidambaram, who hails from Tamil Nadu was aware that with elections approaching he would have contest from the state during the forthcoming polls. He was in no mood to upset the DMK at this stage.
The raid caused a major uproar in New Delhi and sensing a political backlash, a red faced UPA immediately stopped the CBI raids at the premises of Stalin. Then the government including the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh got involved in a damage control mode. The government kept saying that it has “nothing to do with the raids and was not aware.”
”CBI wishes to clarify that the operation was strictly in accordance with procedures and there was no intention whatsoever to target any particular individual.”
However, no one seemed to be buying this argument and the so called coincidence. The CBI raid yet again proved that the prime investigating agency has transformed into “Congress Bureau of Investigation,” and would be used against anyone and any political outfit, which tried to challenge the Congress.
While the government went into a denial mode, sources in CBI revealed that the order to raid Stalin “came from the top.” It was being alleged that the minister incharge of PMO, V. Narayanswamy and the home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde ordered the raid after getting a green signal from the top.
“The CBI raids on Stalin in the imported cars case vindicates BJP’s charges that Congress has been blatantly misusing CBI to survive in government. Today CBI is indeed the Congress Bureau of Investigation,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy pointed out.
He alleged that while there are “endless charges” of corruption against Congress, it is attempting to “muffle” voices of its alliance partners who plan to abandon it.
“This raid on Stalin, heir apparent in the DMK, is a message to BSP and SP that if they desert the UPA government they are going to meet the same fate,” Shri Rudy said.
HE political mess that the UPA-II has yet again landed itself in, remains unparallel. This time it was triggered by the DMK withdrawing support and reducing the UPA’s strength in Lok Sabha over the Sri Lanka resolution. If that was not enough, the SP put a gun on its head and demanded the resignation of the union steel minister, Beni Prasad Verma for accusing the SP supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav of “harbouring terrorists.” Beni Prasad Verma, who was ticked off by the government, however, did express regret but also added that he never said that “Mulayam Singh Yadav accepted commission from the UPA.” A fuming SP chief was in no mood to accept such an apology. However, the UPA was virtually shocked on the face when the SP leader. Ram Gopal Yadav went on record saying “Vajpyee government was better in managing a coalition government than the UPA.” He also took a dig at the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh by indicating that he had “no say” and was “remote controlled.”
In the past few months, the UPA has emerged as a lameduck government by loosing two of its key allies, Trinamul Congress (19 MPs) and DMK (18 MPs). Before the exit of DMK UPA-II’s effective strength was 248 in Lok Sabha. Following its exit the strength of the Manmohan Singh government is reduced to 230..but with the outside support of SP (22),
BSP (21), RJD (3), JD(S)-(3) and with nine independents, the strength is 288. The arrogance of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi took a hit, when she sent feelers to the Trinamul Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee for her support in the worst possible scenario. The Trinamul Congress chief, Ms Banerjee, who apparently losing her base in Bengal following her “mercurial attitude” sprang a surpirse by deciding to support the UPA on the Sri Lanka issue.
“Our party is deeply concerned about sentiments expressed by the Tamil people. We share their sentiments and are completely with them,” the party said in a tweet on its official account. “At the same time, it added, “On matters of external policy, we have, from the beginning, always left it to central government in moments of crisis. We will do the same on this occasion,” the tweet added.
Stung by a series of corruption and scams, UPA-II under Mrs Gandhi has emerged as the worst ever government post indepednence. To cling to power the government has used the prime investigating agency, CBI unabashedly to keep the allies particularly SP and BSP in line.
However, the Congress led by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi with the Prime Miniseter being reduced to a “puppet on chain,” was now sensing that it was not possible to keep the government intact by trying to bludgeon its way through. The UPA has now become a prisoner of its own politics. The coalition is withering and there are signals that majority of its allies was now treating the UPA as a sinking ship and was preparing to jump. As BJP leader, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi put it : “This government will die its own death.It has taken a plunge in a dark well.”
This government has failed to deliver either on the internal security or the economic front.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had pointed that “inflation is not the result of any natural disaster but is purely a gift of this government. Bad food stock management and distribution anomalies triggered the inflationary pressure in the first place.” He further said that when the country “ is required to stock only 30 million tonnes of food grains in the godowns, the UPA has stocked a huge quantity of more than 70 million tonnes of food grains thereby creating shortages in the market and spiralling prices.”
Desperate to cover its faulure on the terror front, the home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde tried to shift the onus on the Hindus by calling it a “Hindu terror.” The same home minister has to eat his words.
However the fact remains that the allies have realised this goernment which has failed to deliver the lost confidence of the country. The scams erupted like stinking sores on the body of this government. Allies are desperately looking for excuses to dump UPA. Even a party like Samajwadi is singing praises of the Vajpayee led NDA government.
This government, which has not merely encouraged corruption and allowed the Gandhis and its son-in-law to loot the country has realised that the alarm bells are ringing.
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