India At 9: Not our man; BJP, Congress denounce Koda

POLITICAL FRANKENSTEINS: Congress and BJP are left dealing with the monsters they created for their convenience.

    

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Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda's corruption taint has spread. A diary has now revealed more names. Police say the diary could link the Rs 4,000 crore scam to other national leaders. Meanwhile, Koda, who is currently admitted in a hospital in Ranchi, will be arrested as soon as he is out.

The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Talking Point was: Can national parties be absolved of their backing of Madhu Koda? Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi and BJP's Siddharth Nath Singh tried to answer the question in an explosive debate.

CNN-IBN: Madhu Koda was chief minister for 708 days in Jharkhand, supported by the Congress. Can the Congress absolve itself of having virtually turned a blind eye while Koda made his millions?

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: How does the fact that he was chief minister during Congress rule mitigate the fact that we are dead against him, we are not supporting him and we are prosecuting him now? You have to judge our actions today after a person has been found to do all this.

CNN-IBN: Are you saying that for the 708 days that he was in power, the Congress had no idea? The feeling is that there was a section of Congress leaders who were conniving with Madhu Koda because a scam of this magnitude could not have taken place in isolation.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: I would like you to think back and tell me where you have found obvious, credible and detailed evidence of the corruption of the kind which is now coming out from Madhu Koda and the Congress supporting any such case in the past? Even in recent history I can't think of one. This is not Congress culture or system. The answer to your question is that obviously and categorically, nobody could have had any idea. And who is prosecuting him today? The Central Government and the CBI, the Central Government agencies. Did the BJP do so?

CNN-IBN: That is because he is no longer your ally. As long as he was an independent and propping up the Jharkhand government, how come the CBI did not find this scam then?

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: Did any of us in the public domain - including journalists and TV channels - know about this? These things happen and when they do, you have to clear about whether you are supporting the person impliedly or not?

CNN-IBN: It was a Rs 4,000 crore scam spread across nine cities in India and across the world. More evidence has come in today of diary items that possibly name Congress leaders, that possibly name UPA leaders. Are you completely convinced that Koda was working alone, because that seems very difficult to believe.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that anybody who mattered in the Congress knew about it. There is nothing to suggest that the Congress connived or knew about it and you know it and the country knows it. However, it's very important to note that the party which has come out the strongest against him is the Congress, is the Central Government. And you have to judge it on that basis unless you get evidence to the contrary.

CNN-IBN: The Opposition has been strangely silent throughout all this. Is that because Madhu Koda was mines minister under the BJP government and because there is a suspicion that it is not just the Congress leaders in Jharkhand and at the Centre who are benefiting but also BJP leaders who are benefiting from Koda.

Siddharth Nath Singh: The BJP has already raised this issue of corruption and have already accused the Congress for its connivance as well as RJD leader Lalu Prasad.

CNN-IBN: Do you have any evidence?

Siddharth Nath Singh: They have the evidence. I challenge the Congress to be transparent and make the diary evidence - which the Enforcement Directorate has - public. Trust me they will never be able to do it because it will expose them and will show how they made the BJP government fall and will reveal how they made an Independent the chief minister.

CNN-IBN: Everyone wants to know what is in that diary, but the point is that it is a case of convenient politics. While Madhu Koda was propping up your government in Jharkhand, there was no problem, but now he has suddenly become untouchable.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: Have you noticed that I did not make that charge about the BJP because I don't want to speak in any manner irresponsible. Today, the BJP had him as a very senior minister. The Congress had him as chief minister for a short while and that too not in the party, but Congress-supported. Since the day Madhu Koda has been in the dock, we have been prosecuting him. There is absolutely no evidence as far as our party is concerned. The BJP just wants to put forth baseless allegations. As far as the investigating process is concerned, it will happen.

CNN-IBN: The BJP is saying the Congress doesn't want to reveal the diaries.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi: This is sensationalism. There is no question of Congress wanting or not. This is matter under investigation. You have to wait for the investigation process, the prosecution to start, all these are case properties. How do you assume they will not go to the CBI court, how do you assume all this? We don't even know if there is a diary, and if there is a diary, what are the contents. This is sensationalism. Wait for the agencies to probe and the outcome.

CNN-IBN: Siddharth Nath Singh respond to this. The BJP should be waiting but the problem is that there are Jharkhand elections in a couple of weeks and which is why you are raising this issue to try and embarrass the Congress. The fact is that he was an important minister in the BJP government as well, a minister of mines and much of his scam is related to mining leases.