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Rao Implicated Me To Save His Son'

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Rao Implicated Me To Save His Son'
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If only two members—Chandra Shekhar and George Fernandes—criticised TADA court judge S.P. Dhingra in the Lok Sabha last month for his sweeping remarks against Rai in particular, and the MPs and Parliament in general, it was not because most parliamentarians justified the remarks or were convinced that the erstwhile food minister had actually harboured terrorists, but because he does not have too many friends left. His loud mouth being his biggest enemy.

But Rai is desperately trying to revive his almost forgotton self—he was a firebrand socialist activist under Ram Manohar Lohia till the late '60s—by quitting Congress and taking a vow that he will not rest till he exposes Prime Minister Rao's role in his "political marginalisation". Last month, Rai sought details of how to contest from jail when George Fernandes—with his experience of having contested and won from jail in 1977—called on him. Soon after, Rai despatched six sets of nomination papers from Tihar jail, declaring that he would contest from Ghosi, his constituency, as an independent.

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Along with his nomination papers, Rai sent a two-page appeal to his electorate on how the Prime Minister had "conspired" to eliminate him politically as he "knew too much about the role of one of Rao's sons in the sugar import scandal". Rai, who had to quit the Cabinet last year following his indictment in the scandal despite a clean chit from the Prime Minister, has made efforts to convince his people that Rao had implicated him in the TADA case to shut him up from exposing Prabhakar Rao in the scandal.

It is entirely a different matter whether Rai will gain anything out of this rather belated tirade against the Prime Minister, because he was also said to be bargaining for his rehabilitation with Rao and therefore refraining from "exposing" him. Shortly after Rai was asked to quit, Arjun Singh tried to woo him and even asked him to be bold enough to expose Rao. Rai only told the Lok Sabha that he had done everything with the full knowledge of the Prime Minister—a threat Rao was intelligent enough to understand. "

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At this stage Rao decided to teach Rai a lesson by implicating him in the TADA case though neither Subhash Thakur, nor the other alleged Dawood associates booked under TADA, had held him responsible for getting them official accommodation when he was a minister," says a Rai aide. Forgotten was the fact that when Rao faced problems in the post-Babri Masjid demolition days, Rai had organised a massive rally for the Prime Minister in Ghosi. Many of his friends, including R.K. Dhawan, deserted him in his hour of need, but not Shekhar and Fernandes, his leaders during his stint with the socialist party. "I do not believe you are a terrorist. You have my support," Shekhar told him. If Rai wins from Uttar Pradesh, a lost Congress bastion, he will get a legitimate ammunition against Rao, who is certainly no match to Rai's lung-power. At present, Rai harps on one mantra—"Rao is both mine and India's problem".

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