Letter from Delhi: Jogi's fingerprints all over the Judeo video scandal

The buzz in the political and media circles in the capital is that it was Amit Jogi, the US passport–holder son of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who master-minded the plot to trap the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Dilip Singh Judeo, in a bribe-taking scandal.

The success of the plot hinged crucially on winning over Judeo's personal assistant, Natwar Rateria. Once Natwar was 'managed', it was easy to trap the simple-minded moustache-twirling raja from Chhattisgarh.

Natwar, his brothers and other members of the Rateria family had re-located themselves to Chhattisgarh several years ago and were known to be middle-level businessmen. The junior Jogi reportedly used the services of trusted administration officials to contact Natwar. And once he began to play ball the rest was relatively easy.

People familiar with the capital's political scene recalled how Rateria had earlier attached himself to a Bollywood filmstar-turned-politician. As part of the retinue of the said politician, who was notorious for arriving a couple of hours late for dinner appointments, Rateria was known to be a glib-talking man with an ambition to strike it rich through the political route. Ruling party circles suspect that the cash-on-camera episode involving his boss reportedly helped him realise his dream. The preliminary inquiry by the CBI into the incident is certain to examine the role of Rateria in the trapping of Judeo.

Once they had filmed Judeo as per the script, the task of reaching out the tape was undertaken by Amit Jogi. His trusted aide in the capital who handles the media on his behalf, Amit Goel, had already zeroed in on the paper and the person to be contacted. Ever since the start of the election process in Chhattisgarh, Goel had been badgering senior media people to "at least meet Amit Jogi once over dinner or lunch".

Several senior media men were reluctant to make themselves available for Junior Jogi's blandishments, especially when he had no standing in the state or central politics. But the fact that the Chhattisgarh administration was run by the father and son duo was not hidden from anyone remotely familiar with the ways of the Jogis.

Incidentally, Amit Jogi had made quite a name for himself even while he was a hostelier at a well-known Delhi university college a few years ago. Always flush with cash, it was not unusual for him to take a group of 10 or 20 fellow students late in the night for a five-star bash ever so often. And once his father became the chief minister, he was the lord and master of Chhattisgarh Bhavan in the capital, ordering its employees, including senior babus, around. How and when he acquired a US passport and renounced his Indian citizenship is not known, but what is known for a fact is that without being an Indian citizen he sat for the IAS exam and failed.

A political event minus cameramen

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, hosted an iftar party this year, but there were no still or TV cameras around. Thereby hangs a small tale. It seems various Muslim organisations had written to the Congress chief protesting against the exploitation of the iftar parties for personal glorification by various politicians and their guests.

They argued that a solemn occasion of breaking the fast had degenerated into a Page Three celebratory event with myriad TV cameras and newspapers splashing pictures of the hosts and the guests feasting in a convivial atmosphere. The protests led to the outright banning of all cameramen, both from newspapers and TV channels, from Sonia Gandhi's iftar party this year. However the lone Muslim member of the Vajpayee government, the Minister for Textiles, Shahnawaz Hussain, could not resist the temptation when he organised his iftar party at which the prime minister was the star guest.

Paying for one's principles

It does not always pay to be a good samaritan. Minister for Commerce and Justice Arun Jaitley is now discovering the truth in that adage. Some months ago, Jaitley responded to an SOS from a damsel in distress, the wife of a journalist friend who had gone abroad for a few days on an assignment. She had been threatened by a senior colleague of her husband.

The spat between the former friends turned ugly with her accusing him of stalking her. Soon it led to the exit of her husband from the magazine where her alleged tormentor was one of the key players. Jaitley became caught between the two, becoming the target of a media campaign when he stepped in to mediate. The ace lawyer that he is, Jaitley is now waiting for his friend's stalker to trip up so that he can get his own back on the tormentor's magazine in a court of law.