India’s former Finance Minister, P Chidambaram and his son are fast sinking into their own quagmire. What can the ecosystem do to salvage the two? If not save them, can the ecosystem at least divert the attention of the country to save them from the ignominy of being the centre of attraction? It appears that this might be the case and we may get to see it happen really soon.
Leftist portal ‘The Wire’, which frequently publishes “exposés“, linking ruling politicians and their children to non-existent scandals, may be trying to pull another fast one in the next 24 to 48 hours. A source in the know has told us that the portal is trying to ensnare Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a new “scandal”. This has also been reported by another online publication.
The plan seems to be this: Link Arun Jaitley’s daughter’s legal firm to Mehul Choksi’s Geetanjali Gems, and thus attack Jaitley, firing of his daughter’s shoulders.
The above report and our source claim the following: Jaitley and Bakshi, the legal firm of Arun Jaitley’s daughter, has been in business for 10 years. Apparently, the firm was engaged by Mehul Choksi’s Geetanjali Gems Limited in December 2017, for handling the disputes they are having with regard to their showrooms. They signed a retainership contract which eventually lasted for barely month since the law firm terminated the arrangement as soon as Choksi was named in the PNB scam. They also returned the retainership fee that was given to them through electronic transfer.
Further, we have learnt that in the one odd month of the contract, the legal firm did not handle any legal case nor did they offer any legal advice to Choksi. Yet, our source says, ‘The Wire’ may try to make this story into another “explosive” link between the scam-tainted Choksi and Finance Minister Jaitley. If this story is eventually published by ‘The Wire’, it is expected that it would be steeped in innuendo and nudge-nudge-wink-wink signs which would somehow link Jaitley with Choksi.
The timing of this potential report is crucial. It comes at a time when former Finance Minister Chidambaram is in the dock for the INX media case. Plus, Chidambaram is also in the gaze for signing a last minute order which primarily benefited Choksi’s and Nirav Mehta’s firms. A report which links Choksi to Jaitley then would make life much easier for Chidambaram.
So for some reason, ‘The Wire’ has decided not to cover a story on why Chidambaram, on the day 2014 Lok Sabha results were known, okayed a schemed that benefitted 13 private firms including that of Mehul Choksi and later the then RBI governor sanctioned that diluted 20:80 Gold Scheme five days before Modi took oath as the new Prime Minister. This glaring connection between Chidambaram, Raghuram Rajan and the Nirav Modi – Mehul Choksi scam has escaped the brave journalists at ‘The Wire’ completely.
Further, very recently the same leftist site published another half-baked report, trying to again link the revenue secretary to Nirav Modi. While the link failed miserably, enough innuendo was generated to again target the revenue secretary. The story was panned by all and when the reporter was point blank asked to specify where the official had flouted rules, there was no clear answer.
Amusingly, the bias that the TheWire has displayed in the coverage of this Nirav Modi – Mehul Choksi Bank scam is staggering. If one tries to search for details of the 20:80 Gold Scheme that P Chidambaram and Raghuram Rajan sanctioned in a hurry to benefit 13 firms including that of Mehul Choksi, one would only find an asinine article about 2 measly gold biscuits which some “anonymous bribe giver” dropped off, as an act of benevolence, to benefit Hasmukh Adhia, which Adhia later submitted to the government toshkhana. While the Scam has squarely landed on the Congress’ doorstep, TheWire, in all its “independent journalism” glory, and kept firmly shut on any Congress connection.
Only time will tell whether the latest hit-job story sees the light of day and whether it has any bite, besides the expected bark. OpIndia.com at the moment cannot confirm what the source claims, but the reputation of TheWire makes us believe that the above is certainly within the realm of possibility.
