Lately, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s favourite line has been, “Mai sajjano ke liye phool se bhi komal hun, aur dushton ke liye vajra se bhi kathor hun (I am gentler than a flower with good people and tougher than a thunderbolt with criminals).” This is often repeated aggressively in Chouhan’s speeches and media statements.
But Chouhan was not his usual aggressive self when he spoke about a recently reported communication from the Election Commission of India (ECI) recommending action against three IPS officers and a state cadre officer. They were allegedly involved in unaccounted cash transactions during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“I am in a constitutional post,” Chouhan said to repeated questions. “I have asked my office to look into the communication. As soon as authorised information and facts are received, there will be strict action.”
The role of the officers had allegedly come to the fore during a series of income tax (IT) raids on close aides of former chief minister Kamal Nath in April 2019. Following the raids, the IT department seized cash worth Rs14.6 crore and diaries and computer files detailing alleged illegal cash transactions worth over Rs280 crore. The department had then said that it had found a trail of Rs20 crore being allegedly moved to the “headquarters of a major political party in New Delhi”. It was widely speculated that it was referring to the Congress.
In a follow-up to this case, the ECI recently directed the MP chief electoral officer (CEO) to register criminal proceedings against the police officers with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state government, on the basis of a report by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
It has been reported that apart from former chief minister Digvijaya Singh and about 50 other Congress leaders, the politicians named in the documents include three ministers and two former ministers of Chouhan’s cabinet and eight other BJP MLAs. All of them had recently switched camp from the Congress to the BJP and some are supporters of Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The reticence of the normally verbose Chouhan on a seemingly major issue of corruption that includes top Congress leaders has given rise to speculations that the sudden revival of the controversy might have more to do with politics of corruption rather than corruption in politics.
BJP state chief V.D. Sharma and home minister Narottam Mishra bayed for the blood of Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, calling them key players of the game. On his part, Singh raised questions on the impartiality and authority of the ECI in recommending lodging of criminal cases against police officials who are not directly linked to the Lok Sabha poll process. He also alleged that the police officers “targeted” by the ECI were involved in the probe of the Rs1,000-crore e-tender scam, in which several BJP leaders are allegedly involved. Singh also asked why he was not served a notice or questioned if his name figured in the CBDT documents.
Conspiracy theory: Kamal Nath with Digvijaya Singh | PTI
MP Congress media cell vice-chairman Bhupendra Gupta questioned the timing of the ECI communication—one-and-a-half years after the IT raids and ahead of civic polls in Madhya Pradesh—and called it a misuse of the ECI by the BJP.
But political watchers feel that the CBDT report might have been deliberately leaked at this juncture to use the documents for political manoeuvres. Political commentator Manish Dixit says the case might be used by the BJP to ward off the pressure from Scindia to induct his supporters who won the recent bypolls into the Chouhan cabinet and the rehabilitation of those who lost in boards and corporations.
“Now the BJP can internally claim that the involvement of Scindia’s supporters in this controversy has maligned the image of the party and not give them the posts that Scindia is pushing for,” said Dixit. “The responses of the CM and BJP state chief supports this conjecture. Getting politicians embroiled in a case will mean double benefit for them of having Congress leaders as well as Scindia supporters in a soup.”
He also said that there might not be any solid case against the politicians as the IT department does not seem to have found the money trail linking them to the unaccounted transactions, and as the Supreme Court has rejected the diary and computer entries as substantial evidence. “I feel that as a criminal case, even this will culminate into nothingness like the long-running probes by the MP EOW into the honeytrap case and e-tendering scam involving top politicians,” said Dixit.
Meanwhile, Gupta has alleged that the case is being used by the BJP to settle internal party scores. “They not only want to keep Scindia and his supporters under pressure, but state BJP chief Sharma and Home Minister Mishra also want to paint Chouhan in a bad light before the party’s central leadership by pointing out that Chouhan sat on the case for two months (the CBDT report is dated October 28),” said Gupta.
Sharma however told THE WEEK that the conspiracy allegations are baseless. “There is no attempt to pressure or trap anyone,” he said. “Such talks are rubbish. The law will take its own course and the government will take action as per the direction of the ECI.”
So does this mean action can be taken against BJP ministers and MLAs named in the report? Sharma said: “We are of the view that… everyone who is facing such allegations and who has played with democratic and constitutional norms should face due action.”