Jaganmohan Reddy

IAC has raised questions about Robert Vadraâ€™s dealings with DLF and subsequent benefits to Robert Vadra and DLF. Congress members, UPA ministers and a governor have defended Robert Vadra. There is a question over ministers and a governor defending a private person. BJP and Left Front want an investigation in Robert Vadraâ€™s dealings. Manish Tewari said IAC is B team of BJP. Sanjay Jha said Manish Tewari was extremely charitable; BJP is B team of IAC. Harish Salve is a lawyer of DLF.

IAC did what many people consider unspeakable; attacking Gandhi family. IAC did not do anything new. Economic Times had an article on Robert Vadra and DLF around 18 months back. Some people in BJP had accused Rahul Gandhi or Gandhi family of having money in Swiss banks. Sonia Gandhi denied it. L. K. Advani apologised. That embarrassed BJP members.

Many people appeared on TV discussions. Dushyant Dave said anyone related to a politician, bureaucrat or judge becomes a brilliant entrepreneur. Someone related to a former CJI earned 200 crore rupees. Shalini Singh said a business model where one starts with 50 lakh rupees and earns 300 crore rupees in two years is something she and Karan Thapar should explore. Salman Khurshid said we will teach Arvind Kejriwal a lesson. Arvind Kejriwal said Salman Khurshid is law minister of India and not law minister of Congress. Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Anand Kumar, Yogendra Yadav and Preeti Menon appeared for IAC. Vinod Sharma referred to Arvind Kejriwal as a loose cannon.

There are discrepancies between DLF statements and Robert Vadra statements. Haryana government is under attack for some of its actions favouring DLF. What happened to Jaganmohan Reddy can happen to Robert Vadra.

Three recent events in India have significance.

First was Colors challenging I&B Ministry and going to court. I&B Ministry had asked Imagine and Colours to shift their 9.00 p.m. programmes to a time slot between 11.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m. Imagine obliged. Colors went to court. It got a stay order.

Second was Jaganmohan Reddyâ€™s revolt against Sonia Gandhi. He called, through a TV programme, Manmohan Singh a rubber stamp and Sonia Gandhiâ€™s leadership a failure.

Third was B. S. Yeddyurappaâ€™s defiance of BJP central leadership. No chief minister of any national party had done that and survived as chief minister.

These three events show challenge to central leadership, whether of government or party. TV channels had submitted to the I&B Ministry. Colors has set a precedent. I&B Ministry acts arbitrarily based on the complaints it receives. A programme that is regressive and glorifies something illegal is allowed to continue because there are no complaints. A programme is in trouble when some people find it indecent and complain. I&B Ministry did not act against Balika Vadhu which glorified child marriage which is illegal because the serial was popular with some sections and there were no complaints. Indecency is subjective. Some find a programme indecent, others not. Some programmes claim to be reality TV but how much reality is there in those programmes is questionable. There are many channels. People who do not like a programme do not have to watch it.

In a parliamentary democracy it is for MLAs to decide who should be the chief minister. People sitting in Delhi deciding who should be chief minister of a state is not democracy. Many times MLAs go through the motions of electing chief minister. Sometimes they pass resolutions authorising the party president to select the chief minister. In some cases the person selected is not MLA or MLC.

Jaganmohan wanted to be chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after his fatherâ€™s death. Many Congress MPs, MLAs and other members wanted him to be the chief minister. Sonia Gandhi chose K. Rosaiah. At first it appeared it was for a short time. When he continued Jaganmohan and supporters created trouble. Jaganmohan defied party leaders. Attacking Sonia Gandhi should have resulted in expulsion. Instead of expelling Jaganmohan, Congress leadership asked Rosaiah to quit.

Yeddyurappa had trouble from within and outside BJP. He survived. BJP and independent MLAs who withdrew support were disqualified. When central leaders wanted him to quit he went on a show of strength. BJP had to say Yeddyurappa will continue as CM.

Interestingly, 24/11/2010 was a day of twist. Reporters were waiting for the announcement that Yeddyurappa will resign. Instead came the unexpected announcement of Rosaiahâ€™s resignation. By night Kiran Kumar Reddy was selected as chief minister as Andhra Pradesh.