Many scams stay regional like the Laloo Prasad Land-For-Jobs scam or Jharkhand Mining scam or Haryana Teacher scam, where former Chief Ministers Madhu Koda of Jharkhand and Chautala of Haryana went to jail. The Delhi liquor scam has national impact because of the involvement of a national figure Arvind Kejriwal and also the un-wise noise being made by Kejriwal and TRS party.
The Delhi Liquor Scam did not start with Telangana leaders in mind. Delhi Liquor scam started with totally local focus, as Lt. Governor got complaints from local traders, who lost their shops, that Liquor policy was changed to benefit a few. Delhi merchants alleged corruption took place to change excise policy. Delhi Lt. Governor asked CBI to enquire. There was no Telangana in the complaint.
The CBI enquired and then found that Telugu businessmen were involved. That is how the Telengana- Andhra angle came out. One must remember that when an enquiry starts, you have no idea where it will go.
Remember former Home Minister Chidambaram went to jail. But Chidambaram did not go to jail because of Corruption allegations against his son. Chidambaram got caught when an enquiry was going on into a murder case involving Indrani Mukhejree in Mumbai. In that enquiry, CBI noticed a payment of Rs 5 crores to Chidamabaram. Indrani confirmed she bribed Chidambaram to get a foreign license. That is how the great Chidambaram sat in jail.
Enquires start somewhere and then go somewhere else.
1. Kejriwal biggest loser in Liquor scam: The biggest loser in Delhi liquor scam is Kejriwal. Kejriwal won elections based on his honest image. Kejriwal controls Delhi and Punjab. But now his deputy Chief Minister is in jail. The entire honest image of Kejriwal is gone.
2. Kejriwal may himself be charged also if the money received from Liquor scam is traced to him. If the ED can prove that Kejriwal knew of the scam, then Kejriwal may go to jail. This maybe the terrible result of Delhi Liquor Scam.
3. KCR nor his party TRS faces the severe existential crises that Kejriwal faces. If Kejriwal’s image of honesty goes, then he is finished. Kejriwal defeated both the Congress and BJP in Delhi and Punjab. So, both Congress and BJP will benefit if Kejriwal is finished.
4. Congress party got an unexpected bonus from the liquor scam. Congress had both Kejriwal and KCR as opponents for last 10 years. But now suddenly, Kejriwal and KCR party leaders are sitting in Congress offices. KCR and Kejriwal chased out Congress from Telengana, Delhi and Punjab. Now Kejriwal and KCR are working with Congress. What a change of scene!
5. Telengana politics: Till Kavitha was given a notice by ED, KCR was ready to fight BJP and Congress in Telengana. But will KCR fight the Congress in Telengana and then be friendly in Delhi? Sooner or later, KCR has to make a decision whether he should make peace with the Congress.
6. Kejriwal also faces the same situation as KCR. Kejriwal was a vocal opponent of Rahul Gandhi and Congress. Now his MPs are sitting at the feet of Congress leaders in Delhi. Kejriwal will have to decide whether to fight with the Congress.
How did KCR handle the liquor scam?
Many say that KCR is a reading and thinking politician. If that is true, then he should have studied how DMK handled a similar Telecom corruption case, where Karunanidhi ‘s daughter Kanumozhi , Ministers Dayanidhi Maran and Telecom Scamster A. Raja went to jail. There are good lessons in how to handle such crisis.
DMK did it correctly when its ministers A. Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanumozhi were arrested and went quietly without fanfare of a marriage procession and came out quietly. All 3 of the telecom scamsters are now Parliament members
Time will tell whether KCR and Kejriwal handled the liquor scam properly. Mistakes might have been made by some people. But it was upto the top leaders not to panic and use their intellect and seek best advice. But what we saw is that both KCR and Kejriwal panicked and surrounded themselves by mediocres. They became victims of the “tyranny of the mediocre”.
Normally, in crisis, flatterers and selfish sycophants will surrounds a leader and drown him with bad advice.
Sisodia did everything wrong:
When Sisodia was going to CBI office, knowing he will be jailed, he went in a big convoy like a bridegroom. Sisodia even smiled as if he was really happy going to jail. People are intelligent and understood that Sisodia was terrified and was only pretending happiness.
What we have now seen is un-wise noise and drawing attention to themselves by TRS and Kejriwal party. Kejriwal is very embarrassed by the noise of TRS party.
Will KCR and Kejriwal contest Karnataka elections ? The biggest test for KCR and Kejriwal is whether they will contest Karnataka elections. If both contest the Karnataka elections, they will regain some standing. If they both avoid the Karnataka election, then both have given up their national hopes and show they have fear.
Common sense and good advice is pushed out by noisy sycophants. Let us see how KCR and Kejriwal handle the coming test of Karnataka elections and the on-going Liquor Scam enquiries. The danger for them is from inside, not outsiders!
In all likelihood, KCR will not contest the Karnataka elections, saying that he wants Congress votes NOT to be divided.