How President Patil’s son explains a Rs 1 cr seizure...

Come election time, black money begins to flow in something of a torrent. So, earlier this week, when Rs 1 crore was seized from a vehicle in Amravati district, in Maharashtra, ahead of the civic elections in the State, it was yawn-inducing for the reason that it didn’t amount to more than a hill of beans. Compared to other big-money seizures in recent times – such as the Rs 13 crore seized from two ATM vans operated by private banks in Uttar Pradesh or the Rs 5 crore  seized from the roof of a bus in Tamil Nadu last year, ahead of the Assembly elections there - Rs 1 crore is, as  Pranab Mukherjee might have said, “peanuts”. [caption id=“attachment_213884” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“This money comes tagged with association with no less than President Pratibha Patil’s son. Reuters”] [/caption] But this money comes tagged with association with no less than President Pratibha Patil’s son and Congress MLA Rajendra Shekhawat, who represents Amravati constituency. After state election officials seized the money, arrested the van driver and one other person, Shekawat has come out swinging with claims that the money was intended for legitimate election expenses. Shekhawat told The Hindu that the money was intended to defray the election-relation expenses of 87 “poor” Congress candidates – of the order of Rs 1 lakh each, with the balance loose change of Rs 13 lakh to be used for rallies and meetings. “It is 100 percent legal money. Every party gives funds,” he said. With all the authority that he is able to command as the President’s son, Shekhawat has been busy preparing documents from the Congress to establish that the money was in fact legitimate. Shekhawat claimed that he had asked the Maharashtra unit of the Congress for funds to support the election expenses of Congress candidates who hailed from “poor or economically weaker sections.” “I did not know how the amount was going to reach us. The police said that the funds had been misappropriated,” he told The Hindu. After the cash had been seized, he said, he had asked the party office to send him a letter authenticating the legitimacy of the money. The State Election Commission, however, has called for a report from the Municipal Commissioner and District Collector. After the cash hoard was seized, the police did not announce the seizure, which prompted deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of NCP, an ally of the Congress, to question the source of the funds. He said he had “strong reason to believe” that the local police was under pressure not to give out details of the seizure for fear of violating election rules relating to expenditure. Only after Pawar went public did the Amravati police reveal that the cash was sent by the state Congress to the party’s Amravati unit for distribution. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said the seizure pointed to use of “money power” by the Congress in violation of election rules that set a limit of Rs 20,000 per candidate in civic elections. Last year, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son and Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit was in the news after Rs 10 lakh was recovered from a train coupe in which he had been travelling. He later sought to explain it by suggesting that the money had been given to him by a friend for safe-keeping while travelling on the Bhopal Express, but that he had forgotten about it and detrained without it. Then, as now, all that can be said is that it’s a likely story - if you were born yesterday…