Lodhi and Uma: No love lost

Bhopal, Aug. 14: Seven months since Uma Bharti took over as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, her regime is beset with a faction-ridden state BJP, sibling rivalry and allegations of corruption.

Last night, Uma invited elder brother Swami Prasad Lodhi for a meal at her residence. The generous helpings of chapatis laced with ghee, buttermilk, bhurta, dry fruits and sweets did not reveal the shape of things to come. An hour later, Lodhi was removed from the high-profile post of chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Corporation.

Swami’s removal comes a day after senior BJP leader Yashodhara Raje Scindia accused the chief minister of patronising her close relatives — an allegation that has been doing the rounds in the state for several months.

Uma chose Anup Mishra, former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s nephew, to respond to Scindia’s charge. Mishra, who heads the state water resources ministry, said Yashodhara’s remarks betrayed her growing frustration.

A few days ago, Kailash Vijayvargiya, a minister in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet, had threatened to step down alleging that persons having “extra-constitutional authority” were calling the shots.

Last night’s order sacking Lodhi said he was being removed following a report by Ashok Shah, the corporation’s managing director whom he had got rid of a fortnight ago, that indicted him for financial irregularities.

The mercurial Lodhi promised to “ruin” the chief minister. Merely sporting a “saffron robe” does not make one a sadhvi, he said. Lodhi declared that “devastation” would befall the chief minister, speaking from the house that has been officially allotted to Uma.

“I am too shocked to react,” Lodhi said, adding that for months he had been battling to protect Uma. “I will never speak to her again,” he said, recalling how he shaped Uma’s political career since 1984. “She is confused and acting upon the advice tendered by the wrong set of advisers,” he said.

Lodhi alleged that some of her ministers and advisers were taking hefty bribes for bureaucratic transfers and postings. “I know for a fact that the going rate for a collector’s transfer is around Rs 20 lakh,” he said.

An indignant Lodhi said he would teach everyone a “lesson”. He claimed that he knew the “in-house conspirators” who had created a wedge. “There is an allegation that a parallel RSS has been functioning in the state consisting of me, nephew Sidharatha and Rahul. I have been removed.”

Lodhi is 12 years older than Uma and relations between the two have been strained for the last one year. About a year ago, Lodhi was flirting with the idea of joining the Congress and even visited the state party office with then chief minister Digvijay Singh.

However, closer to the December 1, 2003, Assembly polls, Lodhi patched up with Uma. He got a BJP ticket but lost, while the BJP went on to net 173 out of 230 Assembly seats. Five months later, Lodhi turned a rebel when Uma did not oblige him with a Lok Sabha nomination. He spoke tough and even threatened to “expose” her but did not carry out the threat.

Soon after the general elections, Uma appointed him food and civil supplies corporation.

Sources close to her claimed that Lodhi was a nagging embarrassment for Uma. Last week, when the Vijayvargiya episode had cropped up, Lodhi had claimed that several Madhya Pradesh BJP ministers were indulging in “beastly and immoral activities”.

Today, he named one minister and one adviser to the chief minister in that dubious league.

In state political circles, Lodhi’s removal is seen as Uma’s desperate bid to blunt the charges of nepotism against her. “She is also trying to send a message to her present and potential dissidents like Yashodhara, Vijayvargiya and others that they too could be shown the door,” said a senior BJP leader.

Others are not so sure if the strategy is going to work. “Uma Bharti is fast losing her credibility. What Digvijay and other political adversaries have been saying is proving to be true. The central leadership must take a note and intervene,” said a former Union minister who belongs to the anti-Uma camp.