From Partha to Satyendra Jain to Sanjay Raut: ED action on close aides leaves their political mentors sullied

New Delhi: Action by law enforcement agencies on controversial political actors --whether it is Partha Chatterjee in West Bengal, Sanjay Raut in Maharashtra or Satyendra Jain in Delhi--has left their mentors in indefensible positions. And their politics appears more shaky than hitherto.

Even the Sonia Gandhi family's "tryst" with the ED in the National Herald case is not exactly boosting the Congress' prospects morally or electorally when it comes to challenges ahead. The party's rank and file still remain confused and wonder why their top leaders had to get entangled because of their act of changing ownership of an Independence-era journal, which has come to be known for commercial properties under its banner than its editorial.

The Gandhis have forced Congress to brazen it out as they dodge the ED's questions. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar believe their voters will be convinced (as they are) that their woes are not due to any wrong-doing but because Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are unleashing "political vendetta" against them.

Mamata Banerjee has, of course, adopted a slightly different course. She has refused to come out openly to defend Chatterjee who had to be eased out of her government as a minister and as secretary general of the Trinamool Congress.

That's largely because of the terrible optics caused by the seizure of Rs 55 crore in cash and gold ornaments and the discovery of ownership of several flats in the name of his close associate, Arpita Mukherjee.

But her party leaders, however,  believe that the BJP is all out to squeeze them through the Central agencies though they won't say Chatterjee is in trouble because of that reason.

The fact, however, is that the people of Bengal have never seen such visual evidence of corruption though quite a few have believed that those close to Mamata enjoyed proximity in proportion to the "big deals" they handled for her.

In Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray went to Sanjay Raut's house to meet his family, a day after the ED arrested him in the Rs 1,034 crore Patra Chawl redevelopment scam.

Unmindful of the charges pressed against Raut, Uddhav praised him. He said the Modi government was targeting Raut because he was opposed to the PM and "those who don't surrender are being framed into one case or another." Uddhav felt immensely compelled to stand by Raut, who was seen as being instrumental in the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Raut was always known as a close confidant of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar whose brainchild was the coalition government that ran from November 2019 until Eknath Shinde became CM on June 30 with the help of the BJP.

Uddhav's defence of Raut was surmised as one born out of gratitude for the latter for having played a key role to make him CM and sustain an arrangement that finally saw the former lose power as well as the control of the party.

More or less for the same reason, even Pawar has felt obligated to Raut. Three-and-half months before Raut was arrested by the ED, Pawar even went to meet Modi and tell him that "injustice" had been done to Raut who is the "senior MP and editor."

Pawar was quoted as saying later that "on what basis was action taken against Sanjay Raut? This is injustice. What was the provocation? Just because he is making some statements and criticisms does not mean action should be taken against him. What was the need? It is our duty to bring to the Prime Minister's notice the injustice being done to a journalist and a senior Parliamentarian."

Pawar’s meeting with Modi apparently took place on April 6, a day after the ED attached assets worth more than Rs 11.15 crore of Raut's wife and two of his associates in a money-laundering investigation linked to certain land deals.

However, despite Pawar’s intervention, Raut failed to get any relief as the ED went ahead with its action. But the big question is why did these tall Maharashtra leaders brush aside the Patra Chawl scam so easily, disregarding the fact this is about an agreement to provide new houses to the 672 tenants of a chawl. Patra Chawl, also known as Siddharth Nagar, is a locality in North Mumbai’s suburb Goregaon, spread over 47 acres.

In 2007, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GACPL) signed an agreement in this regard. It was also supposed to develop 3,000 flats for MHADA. The remaining area of the chawl was marked to be sold to private developers. But the agreement was only limited to the papers and the residents have been seeking possession of the promised houses for the last 14 years. No one bothered.

Raut’s friend and prime accused Pravin Raut generated Rs 112 crore in the entire scam, out of which Rs 1.06 crore was diverted to the Sena leader and his wife Varsha Raut through different methods.

A day after Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain’s arrest, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the case filed by the ED “completely fake and fraud” and said that Jain was targeted due to “political reasons.” Jain, who holds the portfolios of health, power and home, was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case. The case was based on a CBI's first information report lodged against Jain in 2017 under the Prevention of Corruption Act where he was accused of having laundered money through four companies allegedly linked to him.

Later, the ED provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to these companies. Kejriwal has still kept him as a minister and loses no opportunity to defend him even as he fears his deputy Manish Sisodia could be targeted for the irregularities in the operation of the new excise policy, which is in the doldrums. This is after the new Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe.

Coming to Bengal again, the West Bengal Chief Minister's attempt to distance herself and her government from Chatterjee's activities has left very few people convinced. After all, Chatterjee was in charge of four important portfolios in her government and held several party posts including that of secretary general. He rose in her esteem after Mukul Roy, her one-time strategist and go-getter, left her to join the BJP in protest against the rise of her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee. Since the 2021 assembly elections, Roy is back in the Trinamool Congress but he never got back to his old clout because Chatterjee ruled the roost.

If insiders in the Trinamool Congress are to be believed, nothing has rattled Mamata more than the mess that has got uncovered by the arrest of Chatterjee and visuals of bundles of notes and gold bars and ornaments seized by the ED. 

Even those who thought that Mamata has weathered huge political black holes like the Narada tapes and Saradha chit fund scam now think that she cannot brazen it out so easily. She might have done so with earlier controversies -- by winning a second term comfortably in 2016. Even in 2021, she won her third term in office despite allegations of corruption over welfare schemes that upset hundreds of rural voters.

That time, she was seen above all this. Her reputation of austere simplicity, exemplified by her draping cotton sarees and wearing Hawaiian flip-flops and her campaign meetings against the BJP duo -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah --sitting in a wheelchair were enduring images of 2021.

Cut to August 2022, Chatterjee's assertion that the seized money and valuables do not belong to him and his aide Arpita Mukherjee's averment that they were not hers either has opened several cans of trouble for Mamata. Not the least is the attitude of her political heir, Abishek Banerjee who has been battling seniors like Chatterjee to gain complete control of the party.

It may be unclear now whether the seized cash and valuables are indeed proceeds of the crime that is currently being investigated by the CBI and the ED.

But the fact that Chatterjee who was very close to Mamata is linked to such enormous amounts of unaccounted wealth leaves the top leadership without a fig leaf. The West Bengal School Service Commission scam has involved demands for cash from aspirants for jobs. Some were made to pledge their gold ornaments or cash running into lakhs for jobs that did not even materialise.

That is why the sacking of Chatterjee may not end the agony of Mamata. Everyone believes that the scam involving the recruitment of teachers may only be the tip of the iceberg. It is common knowledge that the Trinamool Congress is in the grip of serious infighting over the collection of funds.

We also know that, contrary to the suspicion that the BJP is behind the probe, the ED’s money-laundering case was a result of an FIR filed by the CBI, which was filed as per the instructions from the Calcutta High Court after it got a panel headed by a retired judge to study the complaints in the recruitment of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff, assistant teachers of classes 11 and 12 and primary level.

Since the Calcutta High Court orders have put her leaders in a tight spot, Mamata has maintained silence on the issue while her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, has asked party leaders to distance themselves from the latest turn of the case. He wants to clean up the party of such old guards who have got exposed. It is another matter that he and his wife face a probe involving their assets too.