Has CBI dropped case against Kailash Gehlot as AAP minister joins BJP?

In 2021, both the Congress and BJP demanded a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into the purchase of 1,000 low-floor buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation. Then Delhi BJP president Aadesh Gupta had also demanded the resignation of transport minister Kailash Gehlot. It was “beyond logic”, Gupta had said, to enter into a maintenance contract worth Rs 3,500 crore when the buses themselves cost only Rs 875 crore. The lieutenant-governor had obligingly ordered an inquiry, which began in 2022.

Unlike several other AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) ministers accused of corruption by the CBI and ED (Enforcement Directorate), Gehlot, a lawyer from a prosperous Jat family, was never arrested; and on Monday, 18 November, while he formally joined the BJP in New Delhi, the unconfirmed news was that his name had been dropped by the CBI in the bus tender case.

Editor and columnist Vir Sanghvi responded by posting on social media, “nobody is surprised any longer by the way criminal charges against politicians disappear once they join the BJP. But here’s my question: do BJP voters not mind that their party is now filled with crooks? How can it still claim to be an ideologically-driven party when it is a repository for crooks from parties with varying ideologies who have actually abused the BJP’s ideology? And is the RSS okay with this? What happened to all that party with a difference stuff?”

Ironically, Gehlot cited his uneasiness with growing charges of corruption against the AAP government as one of the reasons that prompted him to quit the party. He had particularly mentioned his unease over the BJP’s allegations regarding the lavish renovations in the chief minister’s bungalow in Delhi.

Congress leader Ajay Maken had raised the issue in April 2023 and alleged that Rs 45 crore was spent on renovating the bungalow with extravagant items like Dior polish, Vietnam marble, expensive curtains and high-end carpets.

The AAP had shot back saying the roof of the “80-year-old house had collapsed thrice” and had been “reconstructed at a cost of Rs 30 crore” based on the PWD’s (Public Works Department) recommendations. It had also alleged that Rs 90 crore had been spent in renovating the prime minister's residence and Rs 500 crore in constructing a new home for him. The charges, however, made a dent in the image of ‘commoner’ chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had claimed that if elected, he would not ever use a red beacon on his official car.

Nevertheless, the controversy had surfaced in April-May 2023 and Gehlot could not have been oblivious to the renovations, having been a minister since 2017. A prominent Jat MLA from Nazafgarh, he had won the election from there in 2015 and retained the seat in 2020.

A practising lawyer in Delhi High Court, Gehlot was quickly replaced as minister on Monday by Nangloi MLA Raghuvinder Shokeen, another Jat.

It has, however, been an open secret in Delhi that Gehlot felt slighted at being ignored for the chief minister’s post earlier this year. When the court released Kejriwal on bail in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam and imposed restrictions on his functioning as chief minister, the party chose Atishi Marlena to replace him. Gehlot was not amused, and possibly saw his upward mobility in the party and government thwarted.

Reports that he was cosying up to the BJP and that the BJP was wooing him back were common knowledge in Delhi. So much so that in August 2024, when Kejriwal was still in prison and wanted Atishi to hoist the national flag on Independence Day, the Delhi lieutenant-governor, with the concurrence of the Union home ministry, insisted that Gehlot do the honours at the Delhi government’s official event.

While Gehlot’s departure is seen as a severe setback to AAP in Delhi, reports suggest that though he wanted to join the BJP with a few more ministers and AAP MLAs, the move did not succeed. However, with assembly elections due in February 2025 and ‘Operation Lotus’ put in motion, the political drama in Delhi is about to intensify.