"Cash on camera" may cost Congress heavily

With polls only days away, the release of video CDs showing three Gehlot Govt ministers accepting bribe will hurt the party's prospects.

The latest cash on camera scandal, allegedly implicating three ministers in Rajasthan's previous Congress government, could not have come at a more inopportune moment for the party with the polls only days away.

HT Image

The corruption scandal, exposed over the weekend, allegedly shows three ministers in the former Ashok Gehlot government on camera accepting a bribe from a private builder.

The names of Gehlot's brother K.S. Gehlot and his confidant Damodar Thanvi also feature in the videotape, coming as a huge embarrassment for the party, which is trying to recoup from its defeat in the assembly elections.

"There is no denying the fact that the disclosures have shaken the party and demoralized the workers. The timing could not have been worse for the party, which was trying to put its December assembly defeat behind and rejuvenate itself for the Lok Sabha polls," said political science professor Raj Kumar Singh.

"The cash on camera has really put the Congress on defensive in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now got an issue to embarrass the Congress," he added.

The Congress, in turn, has questioned the timing of the disclosure -- the desert state goes to the polls on May 5 to elect 25 MPs.

Gehlot has already dismissed the tape as a political stunt of the BJP and called for an inquiry by a high court judge.

"Why did he not use the tape earlier?" Gehlot has asked.

Congress spokesperson Mohan Prakash said: "I don't think that the controversy will harm our prospects in the Lok Sabha polls as the private builder, Ranveer Singh, is involved in various controversies."

Prakash said if the BJP were really sure of the authenticity of the tapes, the issue would have been raised by one of its senior leaders.

Senior Congress leader Natwar Singh has also spoken up and said the issue would not have any impact on the elections.

Though the Congress has been valiantly defending itself, the tape has given the BJP an issue to corner its rival.

State Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia has already raised the matter. In an election meeting in Phagi near Jaipur Sunday, she said she had never seen corruption of this magnitude.

"Congress ka haath ab garibon ke sath nahin raha (The Congress' hand is no longer with the poor)," she said, adding that her government was considering instituting a probe into the affair.

The Congress had won nine of the 25 seats in the 1999 Lok Sabha poll and is hoping desperately to improve its tally this time.