Why Robert Vadra’s India Joro Yatra is a bad optic for Congress | Tech Reddy

New Delhi: Pictures of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their son Rehan during the Bharat Joro Yatra in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media on Thursday. It continued on Friday.

Some netizens reacted strongly to the pictures given by Robert Vadra as being trolled on social media.

Robert Vadra is in the news for all the wrong reasons. He is facing investigations into his dealings in some properties in London and his land in Bikaner, Gurugram and elsewhere in the country.

Last year, Income Tax (IT) officials questioned him in some cases related to benami properties. The money given to arms tycoon Sanjay Bhandari’s firm Suntech International was said to be a kickback for a deal related to a petro-chemical complex that the Congress-led ONGC had decided in 2007 to build as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The first term of the UPA government.

For this, it commissioned Samsung Engineering to develop a part of the project. Investigating agencies are probing whether the kickback amount was later used to buy benami properties for Robert Vadra. It is also suspected that the UK property at 12, Bryanston Square, London is the benami property of Robert Vadra.

In 2020, Robert Vadra was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about his relationship with Sanjay Bhandari and properties in London. During questioning, Bhadra denied all the allegations.

After that there is a case against him regarding the Bikan land contract.

The alleged land grab case of 2009-11 is that the Rajasthan government had acquired about 1,400 acres of land and sold it to seven companies, including Skylight Hospitality (SLH) – a firm linked to Robert Vadra. Between August and September 2014, 18 FIRs were registered at Gajnar and Kolayat police stations in Bikaner.

It is alleged that blank allotment papers with stamps were stolen by the two accused from the Colony Department of Bikaner to create fake and forged letters in the names of the alleged displaced persons.

Based on these fake allotment letters, 1,422 bighas of land were recorded in the revenue records (Jamabandi) in the name of these fictitious allottees without proper verification by the Colony Department. About 1,372 bighas of land were allegedly sold to various individuals and companies.

Skylight Hospitality Farm has allegedly bought a portion of the land. Agencies are probing that Robert Vadra’s firm bought 69.55 hectares of land for Rs 72 lakh and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore, making a profit of Rs 4.43 crore. Rajasthan Police has registered a fraud case in this regard.

The Gurugram police have filed an FIR against Robert Vadra, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, DLF and Onkareshwar properties for alleged land irregularities.

According to the FIR, Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality bought 3.5 acres of land in Sector 83, Gurgaon from Onkareswar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008 and sold it to DLF for Rs 58 crore. The then Hooda-led Haryana government allotted 350 acres of land to DLF in Gurgaon’s Wazirabad as part of an alleged quid-pro-quo. Robert Vadra is also under the scanner of the investigating agencies in connection with several land deals including Manesar in Haryana.

A section of the public strongly believes that Robert Vadra was one of the biggest symbols of corruption in India and that the Congress suffered because of him in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and all subsequent state elections.

During the anti-corruption movement in 2011, Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal attacked Robert Vadra and the Congress for alleged corruption. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has often called the Congress ‘daamad’ (son-in-law) over Robert Vadra’s controversial land deal. As a result many in India despise him.

In March this year, Robert Vadra had expressed his intention to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. “Everyone is expecting me to choose Moradabad or some other city in Uttar Pradesh to enter Parliament. As I have a lot of hope from the people, I will see if I can participate in the 2024 general elections. Every day, I am serving people,” he said.

“Election or not, I go to temples, mosques, churches and even gurudwaras all over the country. As I have been working hard for so long, I think I can make a difference in politics. I want people’s lives to change for the better. When Priyanka comes home, we talk about politics, and discuss how to alleviate the suffering of the villagers,” added Robert Vadra.

The statement drew sharp reactions from the public and irked many Congress leaders because of corruption allegations against him.

In such a scenario, his joining the Bharat Jodh Yatra is definitely bad optics for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party.