The Congress’s campaign against three-time Chief Minister Raman Singh is clouded by the whiff of sex CDs and sting operations that are integral to political culture in Chhattisgarh ever since Dilip Singh Judeo recited his drunken ode to cash he was caught taking on camera — paisa khuda to nahin par khuda ki kasam khuda se kam bhi nahin (money is not God, but by God, it is no less than God).

The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Bhupesh Singh Bhagel is reeling under a slew of allegations surfacing from an alleged conversation about a sex CD that has circulated. The conversation allegedly involves All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh PL Punia. To influence Punia in the selection of candidates, Bhagel is reportedly promising two people that he can “give two seats” if the sex CD is made viral.

Earlier this year, Bhagel was arrested by the CBI for circulating a sex CD involving Rajesh Munat, a Minister in the Raman Singh government. The CD was found to have been doctored and Bhagel, along with his political aide and former journalist Vinod Verma, spent time in jail for trying to circulate a fake CD. It later transpired that it was someone in the BJP who got the sex CD made in the first place.

CBI chargesheet

The CBI said in its chargesheet this September that Rajesh Munat’s face was superimposed on a porn clip on the orders of his colleague in the BJP, a leader named Kailash Murarka who has since been sacked from the party. Bhagel maintains the BJP is tarnishing his image because he is exposing Raman Singh’s “corruption, corporate loot and anti-people policies”.

“ I have been fighting this anti-people government. That is why I am being framed. The CBI is already saying that it was the BJP leader Murarka who made the fake CD. And this new audio tape, what does it say? Have you heard it? I am not talking to anyone about Punia’s CD. I only said show me the CD. We should know what is being circulated about our leaders. I have explained to the party high command. These scandals are being created because Congress is winning Chhattisgarh and the BJP has no other issues to raise,” Bhagel told BusinessLine .

In the BJP’s local office in Raipur, the latest CD episode is a cause for celebration. “The people of Chhattisgarh are decent and that is why they have been rejecting the Congress and opting for Raman Singhji,” said Pankaj Jha, a local BJP worker.

But for Bhagel, the CD episode has undone a lot of hard work he has put in to revive his party in the state. His loss is the gain of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, the suave T S Singh Deo who has kept himself above the sleaze and CD culture of Chhattisgarh politics. In the event of the Congress managing a good show in this tribal state, Singh Deo is the most likely candidate for the top job.

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