What is Digvijay Singh’s strategy? Does he want to help his party and, in turn, the Government or his motive is to harm them? On one hand, he is giving a statement that he has angered Anna Hazare and on the other, he has put the BJP on the backfoot by demanding an investigation into the links between Sushma Swaraj and Bellary’s Reddy brothers.

At a time when the Government is doing its best to maintain cordial relations with the Opposition, Digvijay Singh is giving inflammatory statements. While the Lok Sabha, along with the Speaker salutes Hazare, Digvijay Singh says Hazare is an RSS agent.

On one hand, senior Ministers in the Government are in talks with Arvind Kejriwal, on the other, Digvijay raises questions about Kejriwal being a Government servant and yet being a part of Anna’s movement and collecting funds for an NGO.

But the question being asked is if Kejriwal has committed a wrong why is the Government not taking action against him? If running an NGO during service is an issue, then at least two people — Navin Chawla and Amod Kanth — who are very close to the Congress, will also be targeted. Kanth runs NGO Prayas and has fought Assembly Elections in Delhi on Congress’ ticket.

It appears that Digvijay wants to kill two birds with one stone. He has reason to believe that in the upcoming Assembly Elections in UP next year, corruption in UPA Government and Anna’s anshan will be the main issues. And he has one solution to avoid this — say that everyone is corrupt.

With this in mind, he is trying to malign the BJP and has been giving statements like Hazare being an RSS agent trying to project a secular image.

Digvijay’s motives are clear — he is willing to put the UPA Government in the line of fire if it means playing the right card in UP.

Parting Ways

It appears that Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan are parting ways. Paswan wants to come out of Lalu’s shadow because he has a different agenda. He is looking at a direct confrontation with Nitish Kumar. Paswan was the first to raise a voice against the Forbesganj firing. He had filed a complaint before the National Human Rights Commission and the Minority Commission. He met President Pratibha Patil and exhorted Rahul Gandhi to meet the victims.

On its part, the Nitish Government is targeting Paswan, not Lalu. After the Forbesganj firing, three Members of the Legislative Council and two MLAs have joined JDU. But Paswan continues to play the minorities issue and is in touch with former JDU leaders Upendra Kushwaha and Arun Kumar. Paswan is also trying to get close to the Congress.

Paswan’s real contention with Lalu would be on the candidacy for the Chief Minister’s post in Bihar. The Lok Janshakti Party has announced that Paswan will be its Chief Ministerial candidate. But Lalu will not agree to this. It is Lalu who was known as the messiah of the minorities in Bihar. Now Paswan wants that title. That is the reason why he went to Jammu and Kashmir several times and met Hurriyat leaders. He told them that after the Gujarat riots, he was the first Minister to resign from the NDA Government.

He is all set to organise a party camp at Somnath in Gujarat. He will attack the Modi Government to send out a message to Bihar Muslims. A strategy Lalu is not liking.

RSS to the rescue

The RSS has vowed to spread Anna’s message in UP. Ram Madhav of RSS held a strategic meeting with the leaders of ABVP and the Youth Against Corruption (YAC) and gave them a blueprint of the movement. The YAC is a part of the RSS. Earlier, its leaders were with India Against Corruption, a citizen’s movement to curb corruption. But Kejriwal refused to bow to its leaders. That is when YAC was formed. President of UP ABVP Jai Pratap Singh is a prominent face in YAC and has taken up the task of spreading Anna’s message.  

Soft target

Arvind Kejriwal is under attack from the Congress, the Government and civil society. Everybody respects Anna’s age and his style of working. Kiran Bedi is not taken seriously. Prashant Bhushan has cordial relations with Leftists. That leaves only Kejriwal as a soft target.

The Ford Foundation had donated $4 million to his NGO. According to sources, Aruna Roy has highlighted the relationship that Kejriwal has with Ford Foundation. It should be noted that the foundation is a partner in Magsaysay Awards.

It is also said that the Magsaysay Awards jury was divided on including Kejriwal’s name. At that time, it was Aruna Roy who persuaded the organisers to introduce a new category for Kejariwal — Emergent Leadership. Just after Kejriwal got the Award, he and Roy parted ways. She was upset and not because they went their separate way but because Kejriwal snatched away Roy’s agenda — the Lokpal Bill — with him. In the tug-of-war between the Government and civil society, the issue of dues of `9 lakh came to light. The notice sent by the IT department three years ago was deliberately leaked and Kejriwal’s letter in which he had accepted he did break service rules was also exposed.

Maya’s move

Mayawati takes care of officers close to her. Within hours of DGP Karamvir Singh retiring, Mayawati appointed him as her security advisor.

Similarly, when senior IAS officer Anis Ansari retired, he was appointed

V-C of the newly-built Kanshi Ram Urdu Arabic Persian University. Another IAS officer Ranjeet Singh Pankaj, too, was appointed Chief Information Commissioner of UP after retirement. Kapil Dev who took VRS was made chairman of Municipal Property Board. Likewise, IAS officer SR Lakha was appointed chairman of the UP State Public Service Commission.

Cong Reddy to rein in

Was the motive behind action taken against Bellary’s Reddy brothers to rein in Kadapa MP Jaganmohan Reddy? The CBI and Enforcement Department are investigating against Jaganmohan on the directions of Andhra High Court. Jaganmohan’s father YSR had given a licence to the Obulapuram Mining Company that belongs to Reddy brothers, for mining in Andhra Pradesh.

There are reports that Jaganmohan has business links with the Reddy brothers (a fact denied by Jaganmohan). So, if the Reddy brothers face charges of disproportionate assets, illegal mining and hawala, then Jaganmohan may also face the heat.

But there are two problems that stand in the way of this investigation. First, it will involve the late YSR. Second, the agitation that the Reddy brothers have instigated against Sadananda Gowda (Karnataka Chief Minister) will die down. But it appears that the Congress wants to end Jaganmohan’s run and is willing to take the risk.