Close call

BJP Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Ramesh Bais found himself in deep trouble for dragging party President Nitin Gadkari into a controversial mining deal in Chhattisgarh. Recently, a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicted the Chhattisgarh government for awarding a coal block development and mining contract to a Nagpur-based firm at a significantly low price. The opposition party alleged that the firm’s owner was “close” to Gadkari, which is why the rules were by-passed. Bais swung into action, pronounced the CAG findings authentic and grilled the Raman Singh government. In doing so, however, he inadvertently put Gadkari centre stage, turning the spotlight on the groupism within the party and providing his detractors in the party a handy club with which to beat him. “If closeness to Gadkari was the criterion for allotting mines, then I should also get one,” Bais is reported to have said. As the newspaper clippings with the faux pas reached Gadkari, Bais went on the defensive. The same evening, his niece issued a statement stating her uncle did not mean what the newspapers had quoted.