Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s conviction in the infamous coal scam has put the Congress in the dock, as the grand old party was instrumental in dislodging the then Arjun Munda government in the state in September 2006 and propelling Koda to power for the next two years, amid criticism that the real decision-making rested with its leaders in New Delhi. The UPA’s role further comes under the scanner as the said coal allocation, for which Madhu Koda has been convicted, was cleared by the 36th Screening Committee under it.
Madhu Koda, an Independent MLA, had become Jharkhand’s CM with the Congress’ outside support. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Shibu Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had, however, joined the government, before it fell in August 2008.
“With Koda’s conviction, the misdeeds of the Congress, and the UPA I government, have been exposed,” said senior BJP leader and Union Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal at a press conference. Mention was also made of a powerful Congress leader who was instrumental in propping up Madhu Koda as the Chief Minister. “Subsequently, the government in Jharkhand was being run by Congress leaders in Delhi,” Goyala had alleged.
Goyal had alleged that the conviction put a question mark over the functioning of the then UPA government at the Centre and the Congress-backed Koda government at the state as the coal allocation in question was cleared under the UPA’s nose.
Senior Congress leaders Subodh Kant Sahai, Ajay Maken, Noor Bano and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav wielded considerable clout over the Koda government, which had become like a puppet in their hands, said sources.
A senior minister in the Jharkhand government, Saryu Roy said: “We have sympathy for Madhu Koda. He did not know what would be the result of what he was doing. Every government and politician should take a lesson from this episode so that they do not adopt the path of Madhu Koda.”
On the question why those leaders, who were running the show from Delhi, are away from the reach of law, he said: “Their role was not in black and white and, therefore, they went away scot free. But everyone knows who benefited from the scam.”
Koda’s name also figures in the mining scam and money laundering case. Investigative agencies have alleged that he took huge bribes for illegally allotting iron ore and coal mining contracts when he was the CM. As per estimates, Koda collected Rs 4,000 crore by allotting mines to business houses. The case is being investigated by the CBI. He was arrested by the Jharkhand Police’s vigilance wing in November 2009 and was released in July 2013.
A special CBI court this week awarded three years’ rigorous imprisonment to Koda in a coal block allocation case and imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh on him.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar also sent Koda’s close aide Vijay Joshi, former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta and Jharkhand’s then Chief Secretary A.K. Basu to jail for three years. It also imposed a fine of Rs 25 lakh each on Koda and Joshi and a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Gupta and Basu. The court also held Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL) guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Prevention of Corruption Act and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh.
According to CBI, VISUL had applied for the allocation of Rajhara North coal block. Although the Jharkhand government and the Steel Ministry did not recommend its case, a screening committee recommended the block allocation to the firm. Gupta, who was then the chairman of the screening committee, had allegedly concealed facts from the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had been heading the Coal Ministry, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of the coal block.