Is Yeddyurappa alone responsible for the mess?
Looks like the attempts to keep Operation Kamala alive in Karnataka has boomeranged on BJP. An audio recording of Yeddyurappa trying to negotiate with an MLA’s son has exposed the ‘undercover’ dealings of Yeddyurappa.
Initially Yeddyurappa had denied that this was his voice and he was even supported by his partymen who had reiterated his claims. But now Yeddyurappa himself has admitted to the fact that the voice in the tape is his. So, with that, one thing has become clear. That the government isn’t unstable because of internal factors, but because some external factors like the BJP are trying hard to make it thus.
To attempt to buy over MLAs elected through a democratic process by offering them money is equivalent to hacking the EVMs. This is like compromising on democratic institutions. BJP has admitted to have committed this offence. Who should pay for this? BJP has to make that decision within their own party.
Jibes have already started on Yeddyurappa even within the party soon after he admitted to the voice in the audio tape being his. But we need to understand one aspect. We should not be weighing Yeddyurappa who led the Operation Kamala and the Yeddyurappa who admitted to his voice.
In the recent days, people are blatantly refusing their role in anything despite the allegations being genuine. Yeddyurappa could have done the same thing too. He has opened a chain of stores of various allegations. This additional allegation couldn’t have been so heavy. He could have shifted the blame to his opponents and led a peaceful life as a leader. He has to be appreciated for his admission. He should not be unduly critiqued for having admitted to Operation Kamala.
Now coming to the larger issue, this is not his fault alone. There are bigger names behind Operation Kamala and targeting Yeddyurappa would mean they go scot free.
“Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan” is a popular English adage.
If the BJP had been successful in operation Kamala and formed the government, the credit of this would be usurped by Modi and Shah.
Media had often projected Operation Kamala as some sort of an accomplishment. Anchors would cry hoarse over what time the new government would be formed and the new CM would take oath. They were equally excited about Operation Kamala for their part.
Now with Yeddyurappa’s admission, everyone has gone into a tizzy. Hence he is being projected as a criminal. They are not sad that Operation Kamala failed, but they are angry that BSY admitted to his role.
BJP wants all the possible seats in Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka and other states too. The Modi-Shah duo are strategizing each and every move to ensure maximum seats are clinched for the party.
Hence Shah has closely directed this Operation Kamala. Their whole agenda is to at least try and create some sort of mistrust among people about the current coalition government, even if they cannot form a government.
Yeddyurappa can never enter into this business without the instruction of the higher authorities in the party. Because the funds to support these claims have to come from higher levels. Hence BJP has used Yeddyurappa in some sense. The leaders have made him a prey.
Now he has turned into a challenge to them. There have been attempts to unseat him from the leadership position of BJP in Karnataka. But since Lingayats have been supporting the BJP, Yeddyurappa has been retained inevitably.
If BJP throws him out, the Lingayat support base may be lost. RSS is in a fix over Lingayats demanding separate religion tag because Yeddyurappa is a mass leader of Lingayats.
Destabilising him would mean Lingayats would move away from the party. Hence some of the BJP leaders are pushing him to do things that blacken his image.
Now with his admission, he has become even a weaker leader. That this admission came on the day when Modi was in the state, has caused even more problems to BJP because it has harmed even their poll preparation.
Did he foresee the conspiracies that he admitted to his mistake? Or is his admission a preface to new politics? Only time hold the answer.
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CBI books ex-AAI chairman for corruption in contract for food and beverage operator at airports
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has registered a corruption case against former Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman V P Agarwal for allegedly favouring a consortium of airport-lounge operators and a company that runs popular fast-food chains across the country in the contract for operating food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13.
After three years of a preliminary enquiry into allegations of "cheating and gross misconduct", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also booked then Member (Finance) S Suresh, then Executive Director R Bhandari, lounge operators Travel Food Services Chennai Private Limited and Travel Food Services Kolkata Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited, which runs several fast-food chains in India.
The questions sent to the companies remained unanswered.
The case concerns tenders for the master concessionaire contract for food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13, officials said on Friday.
It is alleged that senior AAI officials engaged in gross misconduct, manipulated the tender process and made unauthorised changes to the terms and conditions of the master concessionaire contract in 2012-13 to favour the private parties.
The AAI had appointed IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (IIDC) as its consultant in August 2011 to help enhance non-aeronautical revenue, including earnings from food and beverage outlets, retail shops, advertising and car parking, at the Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Under the proposed master concessionaire model, a single agency would be awarded the contract to develop, operate and maintain all food and beverage outlets at each airport for 10 years to boost non-aeronautical revenue.
The CBI launched the enquiry in 2022 and submitted an extensive report material, suggesting cheating and a criminal conspiracy by public servants to extend undue benefits to private entities, prompting the agency to convert the enquiry into a formal case by filing an FIR.
The tender was a two-stage process. The first one was the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, with the shortlisted bidders moving to the finance stage in Request for Proposal (RFP).
According to the CBI, key terms in the RFQ were altered and conditions tweaked to favour certain companies at the RFP stage, and the minimum annual guarantee (MAG) was lowered and collusive bidding done by the two shortlisted bidders, who allegedly had conflicting interests.
The then Executive Director of the AAI, A K Mishra, had raised concerns about the collusive bidding and recommended recalling the tender with revised eligibility norms.
"However, the said apprehension was ignored deliberately by the accused public servants," the FIR says.
The FIR mentions the role of Amit Arora, who is under investigation in the Delhi excise policy case. However, he has not been named as an accused in this case.
"Amit Arora was also one of the prospective bidders at RFQ stage. On May 29, 2013, Amit Arora joined as Director of Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Devyani International Ltd.
"The entity, Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, was incorporated on April 18, 2013. Amit Arora got associated with one of the bidders, Devyani International Ltd, after RFQ stage but prior to RFP stage," the FIR has alleged.
The second shortlisted bidder was a consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and its subsidiary, Authentic Restaurants Private Limited.
"Amit Arora acquired 99.99 per cent shares of Authentic Restaurants Pvt. Ltd and had also joined it as Additional Director," the FIR has alleged.
The CBI said the bids of the two shortlisted contenders were "nearly same and just higher than the mandatory minimum annual guarantee", with the consortium emerging as the H-1 bidder.
The enquiry found that Arora had direct and indirect interests in both bidders, which should have led to their disqualification.
"But, the Master Concessionaire Contracts were awarded to newly formed companies ... and the shareholders in both the companies who participated in the bidding process were same," the agency said.
According to the FIR, the bidders failed to inform the AAI about the changes in the ownership and shareholding, violating the undertakings submitted at the RFQ stage and creating a conflict of interest.
The enquiry showed that the Commercial Advisory Board (CAB) of the AAI was given three separate options for fixing the MAG for the Kolkata and Chennai airports, but it chose the lowest of the three options for both airports.
"Enquiry revealed that MAG was to be decided in a rational manner to achieve
optimum revenue for AAI. However, the accused public servant, in criminal conspiracy with private persons, deliberately and in order to facilitate undue benefits, ignored the opinion of consultant and opted for much lower amount," the CBI has said.
All these changes helped the consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and Authentic Restaurants Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited to emerge as shortlisted and the only bidders at the RFQ stage for both airports.
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