Sunday, August 8, 2010

Will Kripa be relinquished of Mumbai chief post?


There are rumours floating around in Congress circles that Mumbai regional Congress committee chief Kripashankar Singh is likely to face the axe from the Congress High command for his political link of Koda's money laundering scam whose ramifications have begun to reach at the door of the Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi. As per Government formation on May 20 to be precise Kripashankar Singh had escorted Madhu Koda to meet Sonia Gandhi for pledging his support to the UPA. The decision from the party high command is expected shortly said sources. But, despite the allegations it is understood that Kripashankar Singh is favoured by party high command because Kripa is the blue eyed boy of Pratibhatai Patil, his actual mentor in Congress. He achieved success and got into politics by buttering seniors. Senior Congress leaders said the party high command has already made up its mind to remove Singh from the party post and was waiting for a formal report on charges of Singh's links with Koda's illegal money transactions. Raids by the Income-Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate in the Rs 4,000-crore Madhu Koda scam have cast a shadow on the Mumbai chief of the Congress, Kripashankar Singh. Investigators are examining, among his other assets, savings bank accounts of his family that show disproportionately large transactions between 2006-07 and 2008-09, and several discrepancies in documents that suggest forgery. Eight savings bank accounts of his family members and close associates are under the scanner. Three of these accounts show cash deposits and transfers of nearly Rs 65 crore in two years by Kripashankar's wife Maltidevi Singh and son Narendra Mohan Singh, neither of whom has known sources of income. Both Koda and Kamlesh Singh were arrested in November last year; the Jharkhand vigilance bureau filed preliminary chargesheets against them for holding assets disproportionate to known sources of income. Kamlesh Singh's assets were estimated at nearly 130 per cent more than his sources of income. However, it is alleged that a considerable sum of scam money may have been diverted through his daughter, son-in-law and the latter's father, Kripashankar Singh.
However, there are also strong rumours floating in Congress circles that Kripashankar may be relinquished of his post and the likely contender for the post is Eknath Gaikwad. But others in the fray like Priya Dutt, Sanjay Nirupam are likely to stake a claim for the Mumbai chief post, said Congress sources.

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