Justice Dhingra report on Robert Vadra is more cannon fodder for BJP
Justice SN Dhingra has by his own admission submitted a voluminous 182-page report indicting Robert Vadra and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, amongst others, of wrongdoing with regards to grant of licences and land allotment to Skylight Hospitality Private Limited, the private firm owned by the latter.
The inquiry commission's conclusions, and the reaction - both from the BJP and the Congress - too have been on predictable lines. That the commission's mandate was limited to inquiring into a particular piece of land in the millennium city, where hundreds, if not thousands, of similar transactions have taken place, suggests it was targeted at nailing those involved in the particular case.
However be that as it may, the fact is that Justice Dhingra's report clearly indicts individuals he believes were responsible for the irregularities with regards to the land allotment and now it is up to the individuals concerned and the Congress party to deal with the consequences that flow from it, both legal and political.
It is clear that the last has not been heard on the issue and Justice Dhingra's word cannot be taken to be the final pronouncement on the matter. Hooda and Vadra are likely to challenge the commission's findings in court.
Since Justice Dhingra was appointed by the ML Khattar-led BJP state government, the Congress party will try and question its bona fides. However, till the individuals concerned can prove their innocence in a court of law and get its findings overturned, they will have these charges hanging over their heads.
What is abundantly clear is that the commission's report will once again reignite a fierce political battle between the BJP and the Congress party.
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| Robert Vadra and Priyanka Gandhi , it seems, will fight out the Justice Dhingra commission's indictment in court. |
There has been a brief lull in this battle of attritions between the two sides for the past six weeks, with the BJP, consciously keeping all the contentious issues on the back burner to ensure the Congress party's support in the passage of the GST Bill.
Whether by accident or design, just before the monsoon session of Parliament in which the all important GST Bill was to be taken up, Justice Dhingra sought additional few weeks to submit his report.
The BJP will claim that the report vindicates the charges of wrongdoing by Vadra and by extension the Gandhi family. The Congress will claim victimhood and label it as yet another example of government's vendetta and its attempt to arm-twist the Congress leadership.
Significantly, Justice Dhingra's report has come out just a month before Priyanka Gandhi begins her campaign in the UP.
The BJP and its political managers will clearly be hoping that it will either make her think twice about undertaking the campaign, or at the least in limiting the impact of her first major political intervention.
Those who know her, firmly believe that she is unlikely to step back and if anything, she will use this as a challenge to drum up public support in favour of herself and the party.