© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A year into the Manmohan Singh government’s first term, Parliament was rocked by a cash-for-query case — an allegation Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra currently faces — as the Cobrapost website conducted a sting operation that allegedly showed MPs showing a willingness to promote a company and ask questions in exchange for money. Following an inquiry by a parliamentary committee led by the Congress’s Pawan Kumar Bansal, 11 MPs, including six from the BJP, three from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and one each from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress (Ram Sevak Singh, the then Gwalior MP).
The episode derailed the political careers of most of these MPs, several of whom never recovered from the allegations. While some contested elections again, many of them switched parties or remained in their organisation but failed to make a mark. At least a couple of them are also said to be planning to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls. Here are 10 of the 11 MPs:
Annasaheb M K Patil
Now 84 years old, Patil was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 as a BJP candidate from the Erandol constituency in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. He won the seat in 1998, 1999, and 2004, and served as the Minister of State (Rural Development) in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The cast-for-query scandal put an end to Patil’s electoral career and he has not contested any election since then.
However, he has remained associated with the BJP and is currently the chairperson of the Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE), an umbrella organisation representing the renewable energy sector. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is among the organisation’s patrons and ministers in the Narendra Modi government often participate in its events.
Yashwant Giridhar Mahajan
Mahajan died in 2018 at the age of 77. He was a two-term MP representing the BJP from the Jalgaon constituency in Maharashtra between 1999 and 2005, when he was expelled from the Lower House of Parliament. While he remained associated with the BJP following his expulsion, he did not contest elections after that.
Suresh Chandel
Chandel, now 63, has represented the BJP thrice in the Lok Sabha from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. Chandel was the party’s general secretary for organisation in the state from 1988 to 1998 and served as the state BJP president till 2000. He won the Lok Sabha elections in 1998, 1999, and 2004.
He continued to work for the party even after expulsion from Parliament and in 2012 contested the Assembly polls from Bilaspur, an Assembly segment in Hamirpur. He was not given a ticket in 2017 and in 2019 he moved to the Congress. Just ahead of the Himachal Assembly polls last year, he moved back to the BJP but was not given a poll ticket.
Pradeep Gandhi
He first entered the Chhattisgarh Assembly from Dongargaon in 2003 but vacated his seat for Raman Singh after he took over as chief minister. In return, Singh gave Gandhi his Rajnandgaon constituency and the latter won it in 2004. After the scandal, he was removed from the party. After a hiatus, Gandhi made a comeback to active politics in 2010 when the party’s state unit again inducted him and made him a special invitee to the state working committee. Gandhi continues to remain associated with the party.
Chandra Pratap Singh
Singh, 66, won from Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh on a BJP ticket in 1999 and 2004. Following his expulsion from the Lok Sabha, Singh briefly shifted his political activity to Sarguja in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. He, however, has not contested polls since then and according to BJP sources in Chhattisgarh, he now lives in Shahdol in MP.
Raja Ram Pal
The 62-year-old was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 1996 from Ghatampur in Kanpur Nagar district on a BSP ticket but lost the next one in 2002. He was elected MP from Bilhaur in 2004 as a BSP candidate. After being expelled from Parliament, Pal joined the Congress and won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Akbarpur. He lost the two subsequent elections. Before the UP elections last year, he joined the Samajwadi Party (SP). At present, Pal is a national secretary of the SP and preparing to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Akbarpur.
Narendra Kumar Kushwaha
The 53-year-old Kushwaha was elected to Parliament from Mirzapur in 2004 on a BSP ticket. In 2014, he joined the SP and was appointed national general secretary. After six months, he went back to the BSP. He contested the UP Assembly polls from Marihan in Mirzapur district on a BSP ticket, finishing second.
Lal Chandra Kol
Kol, 74, was elected to Parliament on a BSP ticket in 2004 from Robertsganj (SC-reserved) in Sonbhadra district. Four years ago, he joined the SP. At present, he does not hold any post in the party. Sources in the SP said Kol was preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
Manoj Kumar Bhuiyan
The 50-year-old RJD leader won the Palamu Lok Sabha seat in 2004, which the BJP had won for four straight terms before that. In 2014, Bhuiyan unsuccessfully contested again on an RJD ticket and later joined the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), which has now been merged with the BJP. In 2019, Bhuiyan and his wife Pusha Devi joined the BJP. Pushpa Devi is the MLA from Chattarpur, one of the six Assembly segments of the Palamu Lok Sabha seat. According to sources, Bhuiyan is looking to contest the parliamentary elections.
Chhatarpal Singh Lodha
Lodha, now 77 years old, represented the BJP for four continuous terms between 1991 and 2004 from the Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. In 2004, the BJP nominated him to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha. After his expulsion, he continued to remain in the party and contested the 2012 UP Assembly polls from Anupshahr in Bulandshahr. He lost to Gajendra Singh of the BSP and has not contested an election since then. A local BJP leader in Bulandshahr said Lodha was not active in politics anymore.
— With inputs from Abhishek Angad in Ranchi
