Congress is filled with this kind but our own BJP has its share of the insiders who by their proximity to the center have an extreme sense of entitlement. On their own in the states they are powerless but in Delhi with their connections they are very powerful. They can challenge a PM candidate, berate him, conspire against him and upon his victory have the chutzpah to demand “samman-janak” portfolio. Yes, I am talking about Sushma Swaraj who has to depend upon winnable seats to enter Loksabha. Another one is Arun Jaitley who has never won an elections and yet somehow always manage to get plum posts. These two and others like them always profit even when Congress was in power. The Congress leaders realize that they may not be in power forever and will need support in all the parties to stay out of jail. A typical trading of favors. Rahul Gandhi gets caught at Boston airport with contraband and Atalji gets him out. It has been over a year with Modi sarkar in power and Robert Vadra is still roaming free with nary a worry in the world. Welcome to the world of Delhi insiders.
So when this Lalit Modi story started to come out, I was not surprised that Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje (even though from BJP) were very much part of that gigantic scam known as the IPL. In fact is there any point in defending these two and for that matter pretending that only these two are involved with the sleazy mega-crook Lalit Modi? I am sure that more politicians are involved in this mega-scam than not.
A 180 degree opposite of the Delhi insider is our esteemed PM who is probably the most honest PM (other than LB Shastri) we have had. He is a very strong leader with a stronger sense of ethics and yet stronger voter-base. He is where he is because of his work and voters rather than connections of any kind. He won on the promise of performance and clean government. Clearly he is still clean and performing as are a number of his ministers but there are some who are neither clean nor making it easy for PM to implement his vision and agenda (I am always afraid of these Delhi insider-IAS nexus). The PM clearly is handling his foreign policy with the dexterity of an old experienced diplomat. So a lamp post in the Foreign Office will be as good and Swaraj. As far as Jaitley is concerned, earning the moniker of Chidambaran lite is not exactly a ringing endorsement. In fact Jaitley has not performed and continues to be the biggest knock on Modi Sarkar.
The Lalitmodigate is the biggest crisis that Modi Sarkar has faced. They are on the defensive which is not where a strong PM should ever find himself. In fact in a really small way it is like Manmohan Singh claiming that he is clean but his ministers are stealing with impunity. I am sure that this is a new experience for PM Modi. But this crisis is also an opportunity. What he should do is that use this as an excuse to rid his Sarkar of this baggage and bring up the junior ministers who are really doing the heavy lifting. This is what should happen ideally. Raje and Swaraj should be shown the door. Neither’s departure will affect BJP’s electoral prospects anywhere. Jaitley should also be made to retire on health grounds (man can’t even stand for 30 minutes). This is the only way Modi Sarkar can regain the moral high ground against the people who are using Lalit Modi as a stick to beat them.
If that does not happen then at the very least a demotion in their stature should be enforced as a message for all the other BJP Delhi insiders. It is imperative that this happen. Otherwise unflattering comparisons will be made between PM Modi and his predecessor. That we will not like.
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