Union Shipping and Transport Minister and aspiring destroyer of the Ram Setu, Shri Baaluji, got into a bit of a jam when it was revealed in the parliament that he used his influence to make ONGC and GAIL to allocate gas to a company owned by his sons. The influence was peddled right from the PMO, which wrote no less than eight letters to this effect.Surprisingly Cong mouthpiece CNN-IBN ran this as a lead story, albeit for a little while only to replace it with the IPL cheerleader story. The latter far more important story was reported in at least three articles, replete with hefty doses of BJP bashing. Admittedly CNN-IBN couldn't not run this and yet maintain the charade of neutrality.
The CNN-IBN coverage was more of a cover up considering the fact that they managed to scrub it down till it sounded no more sinister than daddy putting in a little word for junior.
The Pioneer coverage was more detailed.
First, let's get a minor item out of the way quickly, it appears that Mr. Baalu, in the fine DMK tradition, has at least two wives.
Incidentally, the two companies were also awarded gas from Kuttalam and Narimanam zones of the Cauvery Basin in 1998-98 but the allocation lapsed and the matter is now before Madras and Delhi High courts. The Petroleum Ministry submitted in the Delhi HC that Kings Power was allotted gas at Rs 654 per million metric standard cubic metre but they demanded the price to be reduced to Rs 250 per MSCM. The allotment was cancelled after three extensions when the company did not sign the final paper. Similarly, the allotment of the Kings Chemicals was also cancelled in 2002.As you can see, it does not get much better than this. State run banks make loans, cronies create bogus shell companies, the companies get preferential allotments from state run energy companies and then turn around, report a loss and default on the original loan.
After the UPA came to power, the Surface Transport Minister asked the GAIL CMD on March 1, 2007 to direct ONGC to supply gas to his family's companies. But the Tamil Nadu Power Producers Association challenged the decision in Courts and got a stay against the allocation.
The Kings Chemicals had also defaulted Rs 4.35 crore loan from IDBI and a Rs 1.93 crore loan from IFCI.
The aam aadmi is left holding it in their hands, meaning the bill.
Meanwhile, Mr. Baalu reportedly kept shouting in the parliament, "What is wrong in it?"
4 comments:
The Times Now debate on the issue between Cong spokesperson Manoj Tiwari and BJP representative RaviShankar Prasad was very telling.
Tiwari kept harping on the point that since the eventual deed was not done, there was no loss to the exchequer. Prasad maintained that the fact that 8 reminders were sent by the PMO itself showed that there was pressure from the PM's office. It was the intention which mattered, not the result.
The fact that the pressure was not yielded to only proves another point - i.e. how weak this PM is - but obviously, the PMO did not send reminder after reminder hoping that they will all be disregarded!
There is the possibility that the Congress gave the long rope to Baalu,enticed,seduced,lulled him to a false sense of security and finally exposed him.Baalu is a kalla(thevar) from thanjavur.He cannot be tackled head on.That is the reality.We should not underestimate the capabilities of Congress.All this intrigue is sort of inevitable in india.
TR Baalu is what we in Madras call a "porukki" or a thug's assistant, who picks up the scraps after the master has done his business. Isn't it interesting our "Oxford" educated economist PM, has no problem consorting with such ruff-raff.
the media wont go much after baalu because the dravidas will first scream 'backward', and if that does not stop it, they will get the media persons' balls in a pincer squeeze. Then there will be eminent sociologists arguing that the Dravidas have a right to be violent because they are backward and so they should be given reservation. it will all fit very well.
the new indian express, which appears to have broken free from shekar gupta and got its own editor, carried this story. they also wrote some good editorial and lead article.
and i dont believe that the congress set any trap for baalu here. their balls are already in a nice pincer squeeze of dmk's big daddy.
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