Rajmata8217;s rulebook

Thirteen years ago, Rajiv Gandhi was marketed as the Mr Clean8217; of Indian politics. He spoke of wiping out the 8220;power brokers8221; in the Congress. Now, Sonia Gandhi is desperately trying to be seen as a Mrs Clean8217;.

Mr Clean8217;didn8217;t rid his party of those 8220;power brokers8221;. And you don8217;t have to put Mrs Clean8217; in the Prime Minister8217;s chair to discover that she is just being as hypocritical. Just take a look at the list of Congress candidates.

I pass over the choice of R.K. Dhawan for New Delhi as he is clearly Sitaram Kesri8217;s man. But how about Deepa Kaul in Rae Bareilly? Or Jaffer Sharief in Bangalore? Or, lest we forget, Satish Sharma in Amethi?

Let us start with Deepa Kaul, an unfamiliar name to many. In the finest traditions of nepotism, she turns out to be Rajiv Gandhi8217;s cousin, a daughter of Shiela Kaul. But we shouldn8217;t hold her relatives against her, should we? True, but Deepa Kaul8217;s name features in a CBI probe.

Shiela Kaul, once Union Urban Development Minister, is being investigated in connection with the allotment of commercial property. What isn8217;t widely known is that the list of beneficiaries includes two boys, Vivek and Ashish, who just happen to be Deepa Kaul8217;s sons. But the surnames were carefully omittedand a wrong address was provided. Naani yaad dila denge! 8212; was an immortal Rajiv Gandhi remark. His aunt certainly did her best to ensure that Vivek and Ashish would remember their generous naani forever.

Shiela Kaul testified in the Supreme Court that she had forgotten that the beneficiaries were her grandchildren! Perhaps the poor naani feared that her grandsons had inherited the family weakness of poor memory and needed concrete reminders.

Given that Rae Bareilly is seen as the Nehru-Gandhi clan8217;s jagir, Sonia Gandhi definitely had a hand in picking the Congress nominee for the seat. Her choice is a pointer to her bent of mind.

Now to neighbouring Amethi, where Satish Sharma is the Congress8217;s flag-bearer. By the way, why does everyone refer to him as Captain8217;? That is an honour reserved for officers of the armed forces. Surely you wouldn8217;t describe the general manager of Indian Airlines as General8217;!

Assuming an undeserved honour is the least of Sharma8217;s sins, which include gifting petrol pumpsand gas agencies with wild abandon. Among the 8220;needy8221; were a director of the Bank of Baroda, the wife of an IFS officer, and a woman who gave a false affidavit claiming to belong to a scheduled caste. The Supreme Court acidly remarked that he had treated the Petroleum Ministry as his 8220;feudal property8221;. 8220;It was standard practice,8221; was Sharma8217;s defence 8212; a reminder of the Congress traditions that Sonia Gandhi wants restored.

The CBI has completed the investigations on 15 of these allocations. But the Gujral ministry is still to grant sanction though the chargesheet is ready. Of course, Gujral has a well-publicised dislike for 8220;witch hunts8221;8230;

The abuse of ministerial discretion may be the tip of the iceberg. There is currently a wide-ranging investigation into Satish Sharma8217;s entire assets. For good measure, allegations have also been raised against his wife, Stere, a crony of Sonia Gandhi and a fellow exile from Europe. The Rajmata claims to have a soft spot for Amethi. Is this how she provesit, by leaving the constituency to a man who has been the subject of Supreme Court8217;s strictures?

It might be argued, of course, that Satish Sharma isn8217;t a Congressman born and bred, but merely one of Rajiv Gandhi8217;s cronies from outside politics. But that dishwater argument scarcely holds for Jaffer Sharief, does it?Sharief is a Congressman of the old school. Quite predictably, he was the subject of an investigation because he owns assets utterly out of proportion to his known income. The probe is complete and the chargesheet is filed. Jaffer Sharief is also, incidentally, a central figure in another enquiry dealing with unauthorised foreign travel by his personal staff.

Did Mrs. Clean8217; wield the broom on her trip to Bangalore? Not a bit of it! She brazenly dared Gujral amp; Co to release the relevant papers on Bofors, knowing perfectly well that they cannot do so without breaking the agreement with the Swiss authorities. But in Jaffer Sharief8217;s case the chargesheet is ready. yet she didn8217;t say a word aboutcleansing the Congress of this 8220;power broker8221;.

Conventional wisdom has it that Sonia Gandhi has openly entered politics in a last-ditch attempt to bury the Bofors investigations. Because 10, Janpath knows, who better, that the Bofors trail doesn8217;t stop with an Italian called Quattrocchi.

Nor is Bofors all that the Nehru-Gandhis need to keep under wraps. Some weeks ago, I spoke of the property controlled by Sonia Gandhi in the form of one trust or the other. Since then, I have been hearing many more interesting facts about these trusts. Did you know that one transaction managed under the Rajmata8217;s stewardship was so good that one trustee, the late Sri Seshan once Pandit Nehru8217;s aide, chose to quit?

But Sonia Gandhi8217;s motives may not be totally self-centred. She is also fighting for all those poor, persecuted Congressmen such as Shiela Kaul, Satish Sharma, and Jaffer Sharief.

In fact, going through the list of Congress candidates handpicked by Sonia Gandhi makes me sorry for Ottavio Quattrocchi.With his qualifications he could certainly have obtained a Congress ticket if only he had taken citizenship in this country!

Sonia Gandhi has been waxing eloquent about bringing back the good, ol8217; days. Let us recognise her promise for what it is 8212; a vow to restore the corruption institutionalised by the Nehru-Gandhis.

So now you know why the falling morale of the average Congressman rose with their goddess8217;s arrival. Let me give you the slogan coined to celebrate the occasion: 8220;Sonia Gandhi aayee hai, puraana bhrashtachar laayee hai!8221;