The Congress can also but pop out unscathed from the marketing campaign launched against itwith the aid of the ruling Bharatiya Janata birthday celebration on the AgustaWestland helicopter bribery case but its issues are not going to go away in a hurry now that Subramanian Swamy has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
The maverick BJP leader’s presence inside the upper house guarantees to be a consistent irritant for the Congress. The disagreement witnessed between the BJP leader and the Congress members within theRajya Sabha last week provided a glimpse of what is in keep for the predominant opposition partywithin the coming days.
With Swamy unlikely to backpedal from his “assault Sonia Gandhi” marketing campaign, Congressparticipants’ energies will now be targeted on combating him instead of targeting top Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling alliance. In reality, Swamy has been brought to the Rajya Sabha by way of Modi with theprecise goal of keeping up the stress on Sonia Gandhi. no longer best does this hold Modi out of theopposition firing line however it also ensures that the Congress is saved busy protecting its celebrationpresident.
Congress leaders and their allies privately keep that the BJP’s contemporary marketing campaign towardsSonia Gandhi on the AgustaWestland case does now not worry them as a great deal as does Swamy’s presence in the Rajya Sabha. “Swamy is a larger subject… the club of the Rajya Sabha is a sign to himthrough Modi that he need to persist with his campaign towards Sonia Gandhi,” remarked a seniorcompetition Rajya Sabha member.
at the same time as Swamy is waiting to fireplace his subsequent salvo, the Congress is engaged in a slugfest with the BJP over its tries to implicate Sonia Gandhi inside the AgustaWestland bribery case. Thetruth that BJP president Amit Shah and senior birthday celebration leaders have intensified their attackagainst the Congress president is a clear indicator that they may be creating a concerted effort to buildthis into a Bofors-like marketing campaign of the past due Nineteen Eighties which finally introduceddown the Rajiv Gandhi government.
while Swamy may nonetheless find ways of unsettling the Congress inside the days to come back, the continuing controversy on the purchase of VVIP helicopters from an Italian firm is probable to blow over. For starters, the Bofors kickbacks case against Rajiv Gandhi surfaced while he turned into in power and themarketing campaign in opposition to him turned into led by means of his personal minister vp Singh who had the credibility and the moral authority to take on the then ruling dispensation.
now not quite Bofors
unluckily for the BJP, there’s no vp Singh in its midst. at the same time as Amit Shah has been embroiled incriminal cases, most BJP ministers lack the stature to guide an anti-corruption campaign. At exceptional, the BJP can retain with its campaign of insinuation towards Sonia Gandhi as any cope with an Italian firmright away arouses suspicion. “The fact is that BJP leaders do not have the moral authority to make suchprices given the instances against them,” Janata Dal(U) MP KC Tyagi talked about.
The BJP is likewise handicapped by the reality that the Congress in no longer in energy and Sonia Gandhi did not maintain any post in the United innovative Alliance authorities. “If the Congress was in electricity,this will have long gone the Bofors manner but it’s far a unique case nowadays,” remarked a former Congress minister.
in contrast to Rajiv Gandhi who went on the shielding whilst the Bofors controversy erupted, the Congresstoday is on less assailable ground. The reality that the UPA authorities cancelled the helicopter deal, recovered the cash from AgustaWestland and ordered an enquiry towards the firm has enabled the Congress to release a counter-offensive towards the BJP. it’s far in a function to impeach the Modigovernment approximately its laxity in pursuing the investigation which turned into ordered by way of the UPA government and why it has didn’t song down the bribe takers even after years in workplace.
alternatively, the Congress has charged that the Modi authorities had persisted to do enterprise with acompany which was in the process of being blacklisted. As a end result, the Modi authorities has beencompelled to problem lengthy reasons in reaction to the barrage of Congress allegations. This war might be renewed in Parliament when defence minister Manohar Parrikar makes a statement on the helicopter deal on Wednesday.
“The trouble is that people like AK Antony who have credibility are not articulate and those who’rearticulate, lack credibility,” said a senior Congress leader.
Even because it waits for Swamy to strike once more , the Congress is feeling emboldened because nodifferent opposition birthday celebration has come out to help the BJP on the AgustaWestland case. Itchanged into a special story while vice chairman Singh accused Rajiv Gandhi of taking bribes within theBofors gun deal. The complete opposition, which includes the BJP and the Left events, joined him at the same time as its MPs even resigned their seats in Parliament to motel their protest in opposition to the Rajiv Gandhi authorities.
but, all people who banded together inside the overdue Nineteen Eighties have had stints in energyeach at the Centre and in the states and maximum of them are susceptible on the difficulty of corruption. “The dynamics of country politics….neighborhood troubles dominate in an election,” remarked a senioropposition leader. “a lot of us who resigned on the problem of Bofors absolutely misplaced in theelections.,” he recalled. “In Andhra Pradesh, as an example, the Bofors scandal changed into overshadowedthrough the anti-incumbency in opposition to the NTR government.”
but most importantly, the political panorama has modified dramatically because the Rajiv Gandhiauthorities turned into dethroned in 1989. It isn’t corruption however the BJP’s divisive political schedulewhich is the primary difficulty these days. And that’s what is preserving most competition events fromspeeding to aid the BJP.
