Raid reasons

How some political party activists apply their brain to cover-ups was evident from a recently conducted income-tax raid on houses and business premises in Bhopal of two close associates of prominent members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including some ministers. The two-day raids led to “unofficial” revelations of how a small real-estate player steered his company’s turnover from Rs 13 crore to Rs 1,000 crore in the last three or four years. It was also revealed that another mining agent, who is known as the “close associate” of a minister, has turned himself from a professional teacher to owner of various companies, professional colleges — and an AUDI Q7. He was also a prominent matter of debate in the previous Assembly session when the leader of the Opposition, Ajay Singh, moved a no-confidence motion against the BJP government by making serious allegations of corruption against the mining agent and those BJP ministers who allegedly enabled his rags-to-riches story. But even as the IT officers were conducting their raids, ruling party members were busy cooking up two responses — one official and the other unofficial. The official statement from the BJP’s state chief Prabhat Jha asked: “Should the BJP and its associates be stripped of their rights to do business? Everyone is free to do business in our democracy.” The unofficial explanation was more interesting: “The raids were conspired over by the Congress, since Chief Minister Shivraj Singh is out of station!” He is on a “business trip” to sell Madhya Pradesh to foreign investors.