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Tehelka expose to cast shadow
on Raj Nath Singh's election

The tehelka.com expose on corruption in high places seems to have caste a shadow over Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Raj Nath Singh's election from the Haidergarh state assembly seat, on April 7.

As is visible from the scenario in the constituency, only 45 km from the state capital in Barabanki district, the Opposition is out to train its guns ''against rampant corruption in his jumbo ministry and at all levels of the administration''.

Even though there is virtually no candidate of consequence against him, and the election result is a foregone conclusion, the Opposition - particularly the Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress -- are determined to raise the issue of corruption involving top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies.

While the BJP is yet to salvage its sullied image following the tehelka.com expose, the state government faced a multi-crore shares scam, involving a leading stock broker, whose links are being traced to the Prime Minister's Office.

After allegedly duping investors of an estimated Rs 200 crore, company owner A K Johari is at large, with the Interpol also on the lookout for him.

Century Consultants allegedly used contacts with the top BJP leadership in the state and the PMO to strike a deal for setting up Cybertron Software Technology Park in Lucknow. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid the foundation of the park, for which land was provided free by the PM's Man Friday and Housing and Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon.

The initial lethargy by the state administration to prevent his departure from India was attributed to Johari's "high connections", which also got him access to PM.

The Congress and BSP are trying to highlight the scam as an example of ''unabated corruption'' that has set in at all levels in the system of governance.

They were also planning to focus on the "ineffectiveness" of the chief minister in dealing with corruption by his ministerial colleagues.

"Take the case of Minister of State for Minor Irrigation Markanday Chand, whose misdeeds were take cognisance of by an institution no less than the High Court, which recently ordered a probe into his affairs," pointed out UP Congress Committee chief Shreeprakash Jaiswal.

Mayawati talks about large-scale bungling in the Food and Civil Supplies Ministry headed by Jan Bahujan Samaj Party leader Narendra Singh, who was stated to have been indicted by the Lok Ayukta, together with Minister of State for Forests Ram Asrey Kushwaha.

According to sources, the Lok Ayukta had found prima facie evidence of direct involvement of these two ministers in 'shady deals' and corrupt practices.

A couple of other ministers have become a law unto themselves and there is little that Raj Nath Singh does about them. The BSP and Congress are out to expose this, hoping it will go well with the common voter, the worst hit on account of unbridled corrupt practices.

While training its guns on corruption, the Opposition is also planning to focus its attacks directly on Raj Nath Singh. "While he claims to be upright and honest, the chief minister rehabilitated top bureaucrats who were voted 'most corrupt' by the IAS Association," pointed out senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari.

He also accused Singh of having a "soft corner" for "undesirable" people, "as was seen with his recently exposed links with Congress rebel Surendra Nath Awasthi, who had vacated the Haidergarh Vidhan Sabha seat for the chief minister."

Significantly, the chief minister is facing criticism from within the party rank and file, too, where it is being felt that he has not been able to get over his "Thakur bias".

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