CWG raids reduce BJP to a Shera without clothes

NEW DELHI: Intensifying its efforts to get to the bottom of the murky corruption scandal surrounding Commonwealth Games preparations, the income-tax department on Tuesday conducted raids on around 25 premises of various contractors and firms, including the residence and office of BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal and his nephew Vinay.

The development, which came on a day the Enforcement Directorate registered the first case in the scam, knocked the bottom out of the BJP’s campaign to nail the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in Delhi for the large-scale irregularities in games preparations. Till Monday, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi were being pilloried for the rot. A day later, the spotlight had shifted to the role of the BJP leader, known for his proximity to quite a few party bigwigs, including former president Rajnath Singh and the late Pramod Mahajan.

The uncle-nephew duo is a partner in Deepali consortium, which had been awarded the contract for supplying sports equipment. The firm, interestingly, bagged the contract soon after Sudhanshu Mittal, popularly known as tent-wallah in the Capital’s political circles, became one its directors earlier this year.

Official sources said some contractors, who supplied treadmills for CWG, were seen to have resorted to over and under-invoicing, which raised doubts among I-T officials. It was revealed that one of the contractors was closely related to Mr Mittal.

Raids were also carried out at the residence of Organising Committee member Harish Sharma, one of the aides of the late Pramod Mahajan.

The latest twist in the CWG corruption saga put BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who had made a desperate effort to put the onus for the mess in the run-up to the games on the PMO and the Cabinet, on the defensive.

At a press conference within hours of the income-tax raid at the house of Mr Mittal, Mr Gadkari dragged the entire government, including the PMO, in his firing line, and demanded a probe by a joint parliamentary committee.

Arguing that the PMO and the Cabinet had approved an “inflated budget” for the games, the BJP president asked: “Are you not directly responsible for all this mess? Is the whole Cabinet not responsible for the CWG chaos and corruption?”

However, when it came to the raids at Mr Mittal’s house, Mr Gadkari turned evasive. “Let the probe go on and the government can take action against whoever is found guilty,” he said repeatedly. The BJP chief also sidestepped queries on whether the party will take action against partymen found involved in the financial irregularities.

The Congress, on the other hand, pounced on the development to puncture the BJP’s attempts to corner the government on the issue. “The BJP president might be feeling threatened as a number of party leaders are coming within the ambit of the investigation. He might be scared that the probe might reach him also,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said here on Tuesday afternoon.