The political temperature in Chhattisgarh has risen due to raids by central agencies, but the question that still remains is whether Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who has created an image of 'Mr. Clean' for himself, will be affected by it.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided 12 places, including the premises of IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi and Raigarh Collector Ranu Sahu, in connection with an alleged coal scam. After the raids, the ED arrested Vishnoi, businessmen Sunil Agarwal and Laxmikant Tiwari and their interrogation is still in going on.
The ED conducted another search operation in which it seized about Rs 6.5 crore in the form of unaccounted cash, gold etc.
Earlier, the Income Tax Department had raided the premises of some administrative officers and seized a large amount of cash. The ED action followed the I-T raids.
Leader of opposition in Chhattisgarh Assembly, Narayan Chandel, has attacked the Baghel government over the raids, saying the agency actions have exposed the corruption racket in the state, in which senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen are involved, adding that Chhattisgarh is making an illegal recovery of Rs 25 per tonne of coal being transported in the state.
Everyday, two to three crore rupees are being extorted. In this way, thousands of crores of rupees are being recovered and used for wrong purposes, Chandel said, as he asked the Congress government to reveal the amount of money that this corruption racket involving officials, politicians and businessmen "sends to 10 Janpath".
Hitting back at the BJP leader, state Congress communication cell chief Sushil Anand Shukla said that those who ran a government of 'corruption commission' for 15 years are now seeing corruption everywhere.
"The people of Chhattisgarh have not forgotten how there was an atmosphere of administrative anarchy in the state for 15 years. The CM himself used to ask the BJP leaders to stop the practice of taking commission," Shukla said.
"The multi-crore Nagrik Apurti Nigam scam surfaced in 2015 during the previous BJP government in Chhattisgarh. The name of former Chief Minister's (Raman Singh) son was revealed in the Panama Papers leak. The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, the DKS Hospital scam are all like blots on BJP's forehead which can never be washed away," Shukla added.
He also said that the Central government constantly harasses the Congress, but as far as Chhattisgarh is concerned, Bhupesh Baghel will emerge from these raids unaffected and victorious.
"No matter the amount of lies the BJP leaders spread, till date they have not been able to level any authentic allegation of corruption against the Chief Minister, or any other Congress minister for that matter. If the previous BJP government is subjected to a fair probe, the entire cabinet, including former CM Raman Singh, will be behind bars," Shukla said.
Political analyst Rudra Awasthi believes that after the Income Tax and ED raids, the picture is not completely clear so far, but it is also true that neither Bhupesh Baghel, nor his ministers have been directly accused of corruption.
He also said that Bhupesh Baghel seems to be completely relaxed despite the raids, and his statements and body language are testimony to that.
"This is because Baghel is confident that the people of the state are with him. The farmers, villagers and the poor are happy with his schemes, so the raids are unlikely to affect his political standing," Awasthi said.
