It seems that the BJP has inadvertently fouled its own ship in Rajasthan. An anti-corruption exercise, which was aimed at bringing to light crores of rupees worth of corruption and highlight the achievements of the centre and the state governments, has bombarded into an embarrassment for the state government.
The operation was planned by the office of the PM and the central leadership of the party and it lead to the arrest of top officials, including IAS officers, who were caught in the act of receiving bribes. However, the exercise did not improve the PR of the Chief Minister because the officer who was arrested is her close aide.
Vasundhara Raje was beginning to get over the challenges caused by Lalit Modi's revelations with a thumping win in municipality elections, where the Congress, had a huge setback in spite of soothsayers saying that the party had an upper hand.
The BJP came to power in 80 municipalities and counting the support of independents, is in a good position to douse the enthusiasm of the Congress camp. Meanwhile, the effort of the Congress to revive the Lalit Modi issue in the Assembly did not find any takers. In spite of the din created by the Congress, Raje's government was able to complete most of its agenda in the house.
However, Vasundhara Raje's woes seemed to be rearing their heads again. It is believed that Raje’s government had issued mining licenses to people close to her. Mines in the Sikar area, which are having rich deposits of silver and copper, have been issued to local leaders even as protests by the Geological Survey of India to stop construction works in these areas have been falling on deaf ears. It is in this background that seven top officials including Principal Secretary of Mining, Ashok Singhvi, were arrested for possessing illegally-obtained wealth. The wealth of Singhvi alone accounted for Rs 4 crores in the initial raid, with much more to be accounted for in subsequent probes.
Even though the raids were carried out by the local government's anti-corruption bureau, the government was not aware of it, if the confessions of the Home Minister are to be believed. The raids are believed to have been conducted by the PMO after the PM and Amit Shah started receiving complaints from mine owners who were disillusioned by the attitude of the state government. The raids, which were planned three months ago, were led by IG M N Dinesh, who has close links with the PM and Amit Shah.
Singhvi, who is the main accused, is a close associate of Raje, who had been Mining Secretary for five years during Raje's earlier stint as CM. When Raje lost power, he went to the Centre on deputation and returned when Raje reclaimed power. The CM was very happy with Singhvi and often motivated others to emulate Singhvi. He was also charged with attracting investments during the Resurgent Rajasthan programme that was planned in late October. Singhvi used to take many decisions without even the concerned minister Rajkumar Rinve knowing about it.
The Congress, which had been maintaining a low profile, has now jumped at the chance to embarrass the government with allegations that the fraud is worth about Rs45,000 crores. They accuse the government of providing mining licenses to 653 mines bypassing central stipulations. In January, about 137 mines were given away without auctions even when the central government had issued a statement on the same day saying that mine licenses should not be issued without auctions. The state BJP defended itself by saying that it was following merely what the Congress had been doing for years.
The Congress has now demanded resignation of the CM and wants the PM to take action and come clear on the issue.