Robert Vadra-DLF deal: Why is the BJP flogging a dead horse?

The Robert Vadra-DLF land deal controversy has run its course and the BJP could be flogging a dead horse by raking it up for electoral benefit. The deal has dominated the political discourse in Haryana for over a year. Experts feel it has been overdone as a point-scoring tool and electoral returns from it can only diminish now. Sensing the lack of interest among the public, the BJP has stopped raising the issue after its initial attack on the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government; the INLD and other parties have not shown much enthusiasm for it. The deal involving Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and real estate major DLF had been in the news since 2012 after Haryana IAS officer and Director General, Consolidation of Land Holdings and Land Records, opposed it. While cancelling the mutation of the land deal between the two influential groups, Khemka had claimed in his order that Vadra had falsified documents for the 5.3 acres of plot of land Shiksohpur village of Gurgaon, Haryana. [caption id=“attachment_1491839” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Robert Vadra. AFP.[/caption] “The whole of Haryana is marred by land deal controversies and scams, but Gurgaon takes the cake. The Vadra land deal controversy is just a case in point, though apparently it has taken a back seat. Maybe the parties have compromised on this issue or maybe Robert Vadra is actually on strong ground legally. There are several other similar, and bigger, deals in the Hooda regime those need to be probed, many of which are in Gurgaon,” says Srabonti Majumdar, an executive in a Gurgaon-based multinational IT company. The voters on the ground, too, don’t see any reason to emphasise on the Vadra issue in particular. Appeals for high-level probe into the deal have been rejected by higher courts of the country and the BJP has made its intention suspect by raising it during poll campaigns only. “The anti-incumbency sentiment is high against the Hooda government. There are several reasons for it, dubious land deals in particular. The Vadra issue is only a minor one among these. It is overhyped,” said a retired bureaucrat who did not want to be named. Both the BJP and the INLD began the Haryana assembly election campaign by sharply attacking the Chief Minister Hooda for allowing the deal to go through despite several loopholes. Earlier, Khemka was not just pulled up by the Haryana government for opposing the deal between Vadra and the real estate giant DLF, but also his order banning the land deal was termed `illegal’. The opposition did attack the Congress on the Vadra-DLF land deal during the Lok Sabha poll, and it never became caught the fancy of people. The vexed issue suddenly caught the imagination of politicians when an English daily reported that there had been a breach of Model Code of Conduct by the Hooda government in according the deal the final clearance. According to the report, an assistant consolidation officer of the Haryana government had noted that the land mutation was valid and that DLF was the owner of the property sold by Vadra’s firm. Incidentally, the assistant consolidation officer was junior to Ashok Khemka. All hell broke lose when Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately launched a scathing attack on the Haryana government based on the newspaper report. He questioned why the government in Haryana showed, ‘undue haste’, in clearing the deal. The BJP also asked the Hooda government why it ‘shied away’ from approaching the High Court. Modi went on to insinuate that there could have been pressure on the Hooda government from the Congress High Command to give the clearance immediately before the assembly election, scheduled for October 15. The BJP filed a complaint to the Election Commission of India against the Congress over this but the EC found no violation of its poll code. In response, the Haryana Congress too hit back at the BJP, and called Modi a `habitual liar’. Speaking to Firstpost several BJP leaders said the Vadra land deal is not their only poll issue. Anil Vij, Haryana BJP legislative party chief, said Congress has been involved in a number of scams over the last nine years. This particular land deal was one of them. “The public will want an answer for all these omissions and commissions of the party.” According to senior INLD leader Abhey Chautala, the Congress was a party of scams and at times it was difficult to point out any one in particular which was more controversial. The INLD has attacked the ruling Congress on all these issues of public concern, he said. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh defended Robert Vadra. “This is just an election stunt. The opposition attacks the Congress on the same issue during every election. The moment the election is over the allegations fail to surface again. Robert Vadra did not break any rule in the said land deal. His only fault is that he married in the Gandhi family,” he said.