Raipur, 15 May. Chhattisgarh’s headstrong Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel could be an admixture of paradox and mystery for political pundits. His crave for power and fame know no limits yet he doesn’t want to fix his accountability. He along with his powerful Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasiya rarely visits their office in the state secretariate.
Ingrained in a typical Congress style autocracy, Baghel left no stone unturned to ensure that he is entrusted with the top job in Chhattisgarh despite his more experienced and suave rivals TS Singh Deo and Charan Das Mahant backed by more than two third Congress MLAs. He raced past after hectic lobbying and splashing lot of money by his trusted lieutenant Vinod Verma in Lutyen media and intelligentsia.
However, little did the doyens of Lutyen Delhi know that they were actually backing a person who was soon to turn the entire government machinery into a money minting machine and a tool for regressive and oppressive regime. He, with the active assistance of his select coterie of government officials unleashed a rein of terror and loot.
Those who refused to toe his line were either shunted or coerced. Commerce and Industry Joint Secretary Anil Tuteja who is evading arrest in infamous NAN and coal levy extortion scams along with CM’s exceptionally powerful Deputy Secretary Saumya Chaurasiya managed to subvert the entire government apparatus according to their whims and fantasies.
All this would not have been possible without CM Baghel’s consent and patronage, the Enforcement Directorate claimed in its chargesheet against Suryakant Tiwari, Saumya Chaurasiya, Anwar Dhebar and others.
Such is the terror and indispensability of Saumya Chaurasiya that despite her being in jail for more than four months now, she has not been suspended by the government. She was arrested in December last year for money laundering and graft by the ED.
The Enforcement Directorate claimed that criminal syndicates led by Suryakant Tiwari and Anwar Dhebar were controlling and running the organised loot in coal and Iron ore trasport, food, liquor and PWD under the watchful eyes of CM Baghel, Saumya and Tuteja.
Due to unhindered protection from the highest political executive, the emboldened coterie further coerced several IAS and IPS officers to shun their hesitancy to close rank with a criminal mafia. ACS Subrat Sahu, IAS Ranu Sahu, Transport Commissioner Dipanshu Kabra, IG Anand Chhabra, DIG Arif Sheikh, ASP Abhishek Maheshwari and several others merrily submitted their authority to Saumya and Tuteja who are way below in government hierarchy.
But this is how Baghel opted to rule the tribal state. He has, perhaps, borrowed this from time-tested Congress playbook where RK Dhawan in Indira regime and Vincent George in Rajiv Gandhi regime used to rule the roost. A mere telephone from these officers means a lot to bureaucrats and industrialists in Chhattisgarh.
Now with the ED tightening it’s noose around CM Baghel and his coterie while several of his high profile aides including Saumya are in jail, there is an eerie silence in the bureaucracy.
ED scared babus have stopped implementing whimsical orders from the CM house. Several officers have left for summer vacations while rest of them have decided to lie low to evade ED attention. The administration has taken a beating with government offices giving a deserting look and ordinary people running from pillar to post.
However, CM Baghel has his own reasons for his desperateness because hi son Chaitanya alias Bittu and son in law Kshitiz Chandrakar have come under ED scanner. IPS Anand Chhabra and Arif Shekh have been entrusted with the task of clinching a legal or political arrangement to safeguard his son and son in law. As has always been the case both the officers have been given free hand to splash any amount of money to save his family from ED.
However, much to the discomfiture of Arif Sheikh, Home Minister Amit Shah is quiet aware of his illegal movements and affiliations to corrupt Congress leaders. Intelligence agencies have been instructed to keep a close watch on his relationship with mafia Anwar Dhebar and a powerful minister from minority community.
Agencies are also probing their role in alleged settling of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims in Chhattisgarh. Agencies, it is believed have specific inputs that certain powerful leaders had connections with bow banned SIMI
