by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Why Govt. going after Chidambarams
It is no secret that the entire government machinery is going after P Chidambaram (PC) and his son Karti in a big way. The INX Media case against Karti was of 2006-08 vintage when PC was the Finance Minister during his first stint.
Even the 20:80 gold import scheme was an old hat where no quid pro quo has been alleged except for the fact that seven private parties including Mehul Choksi were allowed to import gold under the scheme on May 15, 2014 by PC. At best its a case of impropriety a Lok Sabha poll results were to be announced next day and PC should have allowed the incumbent government to take a decision. Even Ravi Shaknar Prasad has not levelled any charges of corruption in the 20:80 Gold scheme which was scrapped by the NDA government in November 2014. The gold import curbs were brought in in August 2013 as Current Account Deficit (CAD) had ballooned to $4.7 billion dollars. The scheme was that jewellers will have to export 20% jewelery of the value of the gold they buy from MMTC/STC. The import duty on gold was also raised to 10% by the UPA from 2% and CAD came down to $1.5 billion within a year. On May 15, 2014, Chidambaram allowed private traders to import directly and the file was dealt by 9 officers in a single day. The ED & CBI are dusting up tonnes of files in Finance and Home ministries to get a cast-iron case against PC. But why ? It now transpires that when the RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy impressed upon the RSS and the government that PC must be fixed as it was he as Home Minister raised the bogey of “Saffron terror”. The likes of Gurumurthy whose number is very large grumble in the Sangh Parivar say that the Modi government has not sent any Congress leader to jail; be it Robert Vadra or Virbhadra Singh. But why PC is not booked when he put BJP chief Amit Shah behind bars and slapped false cases on RSS activists like Sadhvi Pragya & others. It was finally decided to fix PC as he is soft target within the Congress.
BJP decided not to be bullied, come what may
The resignation drama began after the BJP high command made it clear to its crucial TDP ally in the South that special status cannot be granted to Andhra Pradesh. Though it was promised at the time of bifurcation by the Congress. But after the report of the 14th Finance Commission was tabled and accepted, Andhra couldn't have been given the special status. The 14th Finance Commission was appointed by the UPA. However, the BJP had promised that it will give liberal funds for the development of the state as other states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha will cry for the same. Several rounds of meetings had taken place between Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and TDP Ministers and even Chandrababu Naidu. Jaitley said he had provided Rs 12500 so far to Andhra out of the consolidated fund of India; Rs 4000 crores for Polavaram dam, Rs 2500 crores for the new Capital of Amravati and Rs 4000 crores towards revenue deficit for first five years of creation of the state. Polavaram Dam is fully centrally funded project. But Naidu wanted to change the contractor. However, Nitin Gadkari held a long talk with him and matter was resolved.Another amount of Rs 2000 crores has also been given for special projects under 90:10 scheme. The Rs 2500 crores funds for Amravati Capital were given in 2014 itself for secretariat, Vidhan Sabha, CM residence, Ministerial bungalow and other buildings. But nothing is in sight. Naidu is still getting the designs from Singapore. He was given money but he has not utilized it. All 16 institutions of the central government are progressing well which were sanctioned for AP. The BJP is extremely bitter with the TDP for neither utilizing money and nor reverting back with his plans. Jaitley and TDP Ministers talks ended in a fiasco. After Amit Shah gave clearance, Jaitley held a press brief and made it public that no special status would be granted. BJP decided that Naidu cannot bully the Centre and let him chose his way. The moment TDP announced that its ministers will quit, BJP ministers in Naidu government put their papers.
Race hots up for new Cabinet Secretary !
Intense speculation is on about the next Cabinet Secretary as the present incumbent P.K. Sinha's three year will come to an end on June 12. He was appointed for two years and got one year extended tenure. It had become clear then Sinha will be replaced by Finance Secretary and Gujrat cadre IAS officer Hasmukh Adhia. He is very close to Modi and considered highly efficient. Adhia, a 1981 batch IAS officer is overseeing implementation of Goods ad Services Tax (GST) which is set to be introduced from July 1 this year. He was also behind the DeMo when he was Revenue Secretary in November 2016. Another contender for the post is Rita Tiwetia who is also from Gujrat IAS cadre and holding the post of commerce secretary. There is a proposal that Adhia be brought to the PMO and let Rita Tiwetia be made Cabinet secretary who will be perhaps the first woman to hold the post in recent decades. The name of Petroleum Secretary K D Tripathi is also doing the rounds. But he is due to retire in June itself.
Ministries hiring spree of PR firms
A number of Union Ministers are rushing to hire advertising and public relations agencies or personnel for handling their 50 signature schemes launched by the Modi dispensation. Now that the government is completing 4th year and entering the crucial election year for Lok Sabha polls, the hiring spree is on. These PR guys will handle twitter and social media platforms, counter negative campaign and promote schemes in a highly professional manner. They will work outside the Information & Broadcasting Ministry network and separate budget is being allocated by respective ministries. The ministries with a large number of PSUs are obviously the milking cows. The HRD, Health, Petroleum, Steel Commerce, Road Transport & Highways and others are completing the process of hiring for he next one year from April this year. The Ministry of Urban Development has recently engaged a Delhi-based public relations firm at a cost of Rs 7 crore for a three-year contract to design and create promotional material for signature programs such as Smart City and Swachh Bharat. Of course, they are being hired after a due process of tendering. McCann (formerly McCann Erickson) was given the contract for Rs 8.8 crore to handle Incredible India campaign of the Ministry of Tourism.
