Three birds at one shot!

The following article was written for Niti Central. Pasting it below for reference :) 

It was touted as a "two birds with one shot" master stroke by the Congress party. 

The nuisance of Jagan Mohan Reddy was becoming an unbearable headache to the Congress party high command. He was consistently challenging and was criticising the congress government on a daily basis. High command did not want to directly expel him - so they came up with this "two birds with one shot" plan. 

Investigation agencies swooped in on the famous "Reddy brothers" of Karnataka! They were members of the BJP and were also ministers in the then BJP led government. But how does this affect Jagan Mohan Reddy? Because the "Reddy brothers" family and the YSR family are the thickest of friends! Want proof? Brief summary is below, but you can read in detail here and here. 

The Reddy brothers first went to jail for Illegal mining in Obulapuram, a place in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh! This license was granted to them by the YSR led congress government. Not happy with this dole, YSR government allotted a massive 10,000 acres to Brahmani Steels in Cuddapah, to setup a steel plant. The Reddy brothers own Brahmani. YSR himself laid the foundation at a pompous ceremony and more than 10,000 jobs were promised within a few years.  

All these were *before* the BJP led government took oath in 2008 in Karnataka. Until the point the congress high command was fed up with Jagan Mohan Reddy, the spectre of corruption was never witnessed by agencies in either Karnataka or AP. 

The downfall began ever since for the BJP in Karnataka. More corruption cases were foisted directly on the BJP CM too. It is important to notice how YSR was never touched. The infighting in BJP led to their disastrous performance in the recent elections - proof enough of how one bird was shot. 

The second bird was Jagan Mohan Reddy. The attack on Reddy brothers did not stop him. Congress party tried to use his YSR's brother to create a split in the family, and Jagan finally left the party. A Cong MLA (who later went on to become a minister and subsequently was dropped) filed a case in High Court seeking investigations into the Jagan's assets. The result - CBI is carrying out investigations under the direction of High Court and Jagan has been in jail since the last 1 year. 

But the high command did not foresee that a third bird will also get injured - the congress party itself! 

How can you run a investigation on corruption on YSR's son when YSR was CM, and not have  ministers and functionaries of the congress not involved? The CBI first interrogated some ministers and then started filing chargesheets against one minister after the other. Now this saga of ministers being interrogated/summoned/chargesheeted/arrested has so many twists that it will put our daily serials to shame! 

6 ministers were sent notices by none other than the Supreme Court of India, asking them to explain about 26 GO's issued when they were ministers in the YSR led congress government. CBI questioned/interrogated them. The first serving minister to be arrested was Mr. Mopidevi Venkataramana. He resigned as a minister on the evening that he was arrested - and in the letter he said that he merely followed the instructions of YSR in issuing orders. This may have been the first time that a serving minister was arrested by the CBI. 

Everyone assumed that it is just a matter of time before the other 5 ministers followed suit. CBI named a second minister, Mr. Dharmana Prasada Rao (was revenue minister in YSR's cabinet, is now now R&B minister), in it's chargesheet and sought permission for his prosecution. Mr. Prasada Rao resigned, but his resignation was never accepted. 

And here's where Congress party stumped the people again! Mr. Dharmana Prasada Rao was shielded with all the government's might. In an unprecedented move, the CM bought the proposal before the cabinet that the Cabinet (and not the CM) reject the CBI's request. With this, any move by the CBI to prosecute and arrest Mr. Prasada Rao was prevented. 

Mr. Prasada Rao is a very powerful congress leader from the district of Srikakulam. Mr. Venkataramana rao is not as powerful as Prasada Rao. Congress leaders themselves mentioned that because Mr. Venkataramana Rao is a BC leader, he was made the scapegoat in this entire sordid saga - what else explains the government's determination to shield one minister whilst letting go of another when the crime they are accused of is more or less the same?!

The saga doesn't end here. Next to be chargesheeted was Ms. Sabita Indira Reddy. She was the minister for mines in the 1st YSR government. So much was YSR happy with her performance, he promoted her to the Home Minister of the state. Now, the CBI has filed a chargesheet against her under many sections, including the famed Section 420! What an irony - the custodian of the law and order in the state is chargesheeted by the CBI under Section 420! 

The AP congress government, with guidance from the high command continued to brazen this out too. She resigned and her resignation was promptly rejected. The Home Minister is now scheduled to appear before a CBI special court in June. Many ministers themselves started speaking out openly - "this is not our paap. We merely followed instructions from the then CM, YSR. What else will ministers do other than following CM's orders? We are innocent to the core, because we did not benefit." The Finance minister even went a step further and proclaimed - "For the misery that Jagan has inflicted on many families, there is nothing wrong even if he is hanged". He was appreciated by many congress leaders for this brave statement! 

And today again, the debate on corrupt ministers is revived in AP. The reason? Sonia Gandhi's "tough" action in sacking two cabinet ministers from the union cabinet. Why is Sonia Gandhi not taking a similar action against ministers in AP, who have equally charges foisted against them? Apart from the opposition, leaders of the Congress party themselves are questioning the undue delay in acting against these ministers. 

You would not be knowing most of this information if you follow the Delhi TV media that masquerades itself as "national media". In essence, somehow the AP story successfully gets killed before it reaches the TV studios. The brazenness with which the Congress party is trying to play out this saga will eventually spell doom for it -it's just a matter of time!