NEW DELHI, 17 November 2003 — The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was stunned yesterday by a videotaped exposé of its chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming election in Madhya Pradesh accepting bribe.
The BJP reacted angrily to a front-page Indian Express photographic account of Minister of State for Environment and Forests Dilip Singh Judeo, saying it was a “conspiracy” by the main opposition Congress party.
Congress, in turn, demanded that Judeo be sacked and the tapes thoroughly investigated. “Judeo should be removed from the council of ministers and an honest inquiry set up,” Congress spokeswoman Ambika Soni told reporters, demanding that all evidence should be secured immediately.
“We are hoping the BJP will at least this time act as people want them to. Law that applies to ordinary citizens should also be enforced and action should be taken,” she added.
The Express reported that Judeo, a hard-line BJP leader who could become the chief minister if the party wins elections in Chhattisgarh, was secretly taped accepting cash in a hotel room here.
The report plunged the BJP into turmoil as senior leaders scurried to begin damage control measures ahead of crucial elections in Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Rajasthan on Dec. 1.
In its first official response hours after the newspaper revelations, the BJP accused Congress of hatching a “despicable, baseless and low-down” plot to tarnish BJP leaders and divert voters’ attention.
“It is fabricated, doctored and manipulated,” said BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, insisting that the tape was fake. He pointed a finger at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who was recently accused of forgery. “We demand that the Election Commission immediately intervene in this, seize the videotape and get it verified.”
Congress leader Kapil Sibal also mocked the BJP-led government’s “cash and carry politics”. “They (BJP) keep accusing us (but) the images are there for all to see. Are they saying the man on the tape is not Judeo? That it is not his voice? That the money is not money,” Sibal asked.
In its report, the Express relied on a VCD filmed secretly in the first week of this month to say the minister took cash from a man seeking mining leases in Orissa and Judeo’s home state Chhattisgarh.
Judeo could not be reached for comments but the Express quoted him as denying the allegation. The mobile telephone of his assistant also named in the story was switched off.
The Express exposé carried five captioned photographs that capture the sequence of events beginning with the minister and his assistant sitting in a hotel room. A man walks in with the cash and offers it to the minister who accepts it and raises the bundle to his forehead. The minister keeps the cash on the sofa and gets up. Then his assistant holds the bag packed with cash and the minister reaches out to take it. The bribe giver, identified in the video simply as Rahul, claimed to be a judge’s son who represented an Australian mining firm that was unable to acquire mining rights in Orissa and Chhattisgarh in the normal course.
Speaking to the Express, Judeo responded to the tape stating he was “fighting international forces and it was a part of it”, but admitted he was in New Delhi on Nov. 5.
Recently Judeo had dramatically vowed to cut off his moustache if the BJP lost in Chhattisgarh.
After yesterday’s exposé, Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur commented: “Now he should cut off his moustache as he has already cut off his and his party’s nose!”
This is the second such videotaped scandal to hit the BJP since Vajpayee took power in 1999. In March 2001, the scam-busting portal Tehelka.com had videotaped then BJP chief Bangaru Laxman accepting a thick wad of notes and stashing it away in his drawer.
— Additional input from agencies
