The arrest of Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana is a clear signal that the CBI has been given a free hand by Delhi to take the case against Jagan to its logical end. With Mopidevi behind the bars, Jagan will not be far behind.
The investigation by the CBI into Jagan’s assets and allegations of quid pro quo hit many hurdles since it started. CBI could not proceed very fast in the case against Jagan without implicating the Ministers and officials concerned. In fact, the YSR Congress Party and Jagan have been trying to expose the lacuna in CBI investigation by pointing out that if the Ministers who had issued GOs were clean, then Jagan could not be accused of any wrong doing.
Since quid pro quo has been the basis of CBI’s investigation, it is incumbent upon the agency to prove that there was a conspiracy between those in the government and Jagan to defraud the government. It is here that CBI seemed to have stuck for some time.
However, realizing that the case could not be taken forward without going the whole hog, the powers-that-be in Delhi reportedly instructed the CBI to go after every single person – Minister or senior official – in their pursuit of Jagan. Such a step would also dilute Jagan’s attempts at garnering sympathy of the people with allegations of his being singled out for harassment.
The arrest of Mopidevi is not likely to stop with Jagan’s imminent custody. Several other Ministers are likely to be called for questioning by the CBI in the coming days, and a few of them, whose role in irregular allocations cannot be brushed under the carpet, might jostle for space with Mopidevi in jail.
The Congress high command seems to have taken into account the cascading political effect its move is likely to create in state’s politics. The party seems ready for the fall-out and the repercussions the move is likely to trigger both within the party and in the ensuing by-elections.
