Swaraj strikes back, says will name Congress leader who sought passport for Coalgate accused

Sushma Swaraj may not have been allowed to speak in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday after the Congress disrupted proceedings, but on Wednesday morning she took on the Congress, claiming that a party leader had pressured her to give a diplomatic passport to a a former Minister of State who has been named in the Coalgate scam.

This is what the External Affairs Minister, who has been accused of conflict of interest for aiding former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in obtaining travel documents, tweeted this morning:

A senior Congress leader was pressing me hard to give diplomatic passport to the Coal Scam accused Santosh Bagrodia.@ANI_news

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 22, 2015

I will disclose name of the leader on the floor of the House.@imTejasBarot

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 22, 2015

For the uninitiated, former minister of state for coal Bagrodia and ex-Coal Secretary HC Gupta were summoned on Tuesday as accused by a Special Court in connection with a case connected with the coal block allocation scam. The duo are alleged to have been involved in the allocation of the Bander coal block in Maharashtra to accused firm AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd.

The court had summoned the duo for the alleged offences under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) under IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. In an earlier order on 30 January, the court had observed that Bagrodia had allegedly committed criminal misconduct and facilitated AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd to unlawfully obtain the coal block.

Bagrodia has responded to Swaraj’s tweets telling India Today that he wasn’t sure why she had brought up his name and that he will respond.

“I was eligible for a diplomatic passport,” he told the channel.

However, the BJP is likely to use Swaraj’s revelation to make things inconvenient for the Congress as it is now likely to face allegations about attempting to shield him just as it is about to ramp up its attack.

On Tuesday, when the Opposition had raked up the issue of Lalit Modi in the Question Hour of Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government was ready for a discussion on the issue and that Swaraj was willing to make a statement on the matter. However, the Congress had chosen instead to disrupt proceedings.

Swaraj’s tweets on Wednesday perhaps come as the surest confirmation that she will be defending herself against the allegations that the opposition has levelled against her.

The Congress has already declared that it would be holding a protest outside Parliament on Wednesday that will be led by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. It has also threatened to not let Parliament function in the event for the duration of the monsoon session of Parliament unless the Modi government removes Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in connection with the Lalit Modi scandal, and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in connection with the Vyapam scam.

According to a Times of India report , Congress president Sonia Gandhi has told all the party’s MPs to remain present for the protest outside Parliament on Wednesday and that they will rake up the Lalit Modi issue in Parliament. While leaders like Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor raised doubts over the merits of disrupting Parliament, the Congress has reportedly decided to go the whole hog in what it sees as an opportunity to expose the Modi government on contentious issues.

For the Congress, the protest is crucial as Firstpost’s R Jagannathan had pointed out  it is steadily losing support among other parties in its attempt to block the government from passing any legislation. One-time allies like the Samajwadi Party could be deserting the Congress if the BJP brings about the amendments it is seeking to the Land Acquisition Bill while others like JD(U) aren’t keen to hold up legislation like the Goods and Services Tax.

“Disruption suits the Congress best at this stage and that is what it will do. Anything else will expose its weakness and isolate it politically,” he noted. Perhaps sensing the possibility of breaking the stalemate, the BJP has instead decided to work to win over the opposition and take the Congress head on, even at the cost of legislation being stalled. The surest indication of this came after party chief Amit Shah met with all the leaders under fire on Sunday and it was decided that the party would rather take on the opposition than yield.

Reports had stated earlier that Shah had Swaraj that while she would have to mount her own defence, Raje and Chouhan could count on the party’s spokespersons to defend them in and outside Parliament. The BJP also plans to rake up issues like bribery allegations against Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, former Goa chief minister Digamber Kamat and even use the Lalit Modi issue to its own advantage by quoting the tweets in which he referred to Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi.

Swaraj’s tweets are perhaps the surest indication of the BJP is going fight allegation with allegation as it takes on the Congress and won’t hesitate to indulge in the same sort of naming-and-shaming that the opposition is attempting to do. Expect many an inconvenient skeleton to tumble out of parties’ closets this monsoon session as the Congress and BJP go toe-to-toe.