`Already facing a series of scams, these are the additional headaches for the central leadership. The problem for the Congress is decision making. Right now with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi undergoing surgery abroad, the decision making process has become a question mark although she has set up a four member team to run the day to day affairs. Interestingly, of these four members, Rahul Gandhi is still abroad. There is no chance at present of the Delhi chief minister or Kerala chief minister resigning on their own.

If Sheila Dikshit issue has become prominent after the CAG pointing a finger at her government regarding the Commonwealth Games, the Omen Chandy palm oil case is a very old one, coming back from the nineties. In both the states the opposition has become vociferous in demanding their heads, which the party is in no mood to agree. If the BJP is vociferous that Sheila Dikshit should go pointing out that the Congress demanded and got the head of the BJP chief minister Yediyurappa recently on the Lokayukta, the left parties are demanding the ouster of Omen Chandy. In both cases a section of the local Congressmen would be smiling if they were removed.

This brings us to the question whether the two chief ministers should resign. Take the case of Sheila Dikshit. It is the indictment of the CAG that is being cited by the opposition that she should go. It is common knowledge that it is the job of the CAG to scrutinize the government expenditure with a fine toothcomb and that is exactly what this CAG has also done. There is a process before the report is submitted to Parliament as the CAG sends his queries to the state government for their comments. If he is satisfied, those paras are dropped from the report. If he is not satisfied they remain. As far as the CWG is concerned, several paragraphs raising questions have remained, as the CAG is obviously not satisfied with the replies.

Now that the CAG report is submitted to Parliament, the normal procedure is that it is the PAC, which will go through the report and come up with its recommendations. Even before that the chorus has begun that Sheila Dikshit should go. But should she? Gone are the days when the chief ministers and ministers resigned on even allegations but today even after constitutional institutions point a finger at them, they have no wish to quit nor does the party wish tell them to resign unless it is inevitable. It is a mystery at what point they feel indicted.

There is another interesting aspect. If the Congress adopts the same standards as in the case of former OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi or A Raja in the case of 2 G scam, there is a reason for Sheila to be removed. But today the Congress is in a mood to protect Sheila Dikshit. With the Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev drawing the country’s attention on corruption, the chorus for the ouster of Sheila Dikshit is growing day by day. Will the Congress take a quick decision instead of rubbishing the CAG report? As for Chandy, the case is in the court.

Why is the Congress adopting these double standards? If it thinks that the PAC alone has the right to examine the CAG report, why did it send Kalmadi to jail? If on the other hand, it has some guidelines, then it should apply the same standard in the case of Sheila Dikshit or Oommen Chandy.

If you ask the Congress leaders, they complain that the media, particularly the electronic media, sets the country’s agenda. To a certain extent it is true — it is the media trial, which is hurting the politicians. For instance, the CAG is a 150-year-old institution and it has always submitted critical reports about the government all these years. But now the 24/7 channels hungering for news and a weak opposition taking the cue from the media, there is demand for ouster of chief ministers and ministers and fingers are raised at even the Prime Minister. The public is willing to believe the worst because of the increasing awareness of corruption. The Congress party is worried about the impact of this negative publicity and some times has knee- jerk reactions in its damage control exercise, which worsens the situation. The media management of the Congress as well as the government is pathetic even as more and more scams are tumbling out of the cupboard. The UPA 2 is a classic example of how the government could face a series of crisis and spend its time in defending the scams rather than governance and development.

How can this situation be rectified? First of all the politicians should not follow the media agenda and work out their own to save themselves front the media trial. Earlier, it was the political parties, which set the agenda and the media merely followed it. For this purpose they have to have some introspection why the media has a bigger role today.

Secondly, the government should realize that by rubbishing the institutions like the CAG will not be good in the long run as they are creatures of the constitution and should function in their role assigned to them.

Thirdly, the Congress party and the government should realize that time has come to stop playing to the gallery and apply double standards and be responsible to the people who have reposed faith in them. There is a limit to their tolerance of corruption and once this is crossed, the result would be disastrous. People should feel that their representatives are ready to quit on the mildest allegations and come back once they are cleared. (IPA Service)