Top 7 Indian politicians facing serious corruption charges

New Delhi: The illicit use of power by politicians has turned the entire Indian polity into a venal one, where there is a price for everything. Corruption crept into the Indian body politic in the Seventies in a major way, and since then this cancer has spread across the length and breadth of the country. Not only corrupt politicians, but also musclemen like Pappu Yadav have entered our legislatures so much so that a person like the late Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujaral had once remarked in Parliament that he had to look over his shoulders to look whether there was a criminal sitting in the benches behind him or not. For this article, we confine ourselves to corruption. Let's have a look at those politicians who are facing serious charges of corruption in lawcourts. One one hand we have activists like Anna Hazare who is fighting for a truly Jan Lok Pal Bill, and on the other hand we have persons like Suresh Kalmadi and A Raja, who have become blots on the image of politicians. 1. Suresh Kalmadi: Commonwealth Games in Delhi was anticipated to become a trendsetter for major investments in infrastructure, but this was converted into an opportunity to dig a hole (or holes) in the pockets of public. The chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi was a law unto himself.Right from the arrangements for the Queen's Baton Relay in London, to the contracts awarded at higher rates to the vendors in India, Kalmadi is mired deep in corruption charges. Suresh Kalmadi, his secretary general Lalit Bhanot and other office bearers were arrested (most of them were later released on bail).According to one estimate, nearly Rs 70,000 crores changed hands during the Games. Kalmadi and his cronies are presently fighting their cases in lawcourts. 2. A. Raja: Four times member of parliament and twice Communication and Information Technology minister at the Centre due to "coalition compulsions", this politician played a key role in the 2G spectrum scam. As minister, Raja ordered collections of bids on first-come-first-served basis within a short time span, so much so, that bigwigs of telecom service providers had to literally sprint through Sanchar Bhavan, to give their bids within the short stipulated time.According to CBI reports, approximately Rs. 3,000 crore changed hands with the spectrum allotted to favourites. It was alleged that Raja took inducement from some telecom companies to bring forward the cut-off date for applications for spectrum from October 1 to September 25, 2007.He was also under allegations that he operated bank accounts in Mauritius and Seychelles, which were in his wife's name, to safeguard the money received from the scam. He was jailed in 2011 but later managed to get released on bail in 2012. The 2G spectrum case is presently meandering through the great Indian legal maze. 3. Mayawati: A municipal school teacher getting a paltry salary, and preparing for the Civil Service exam, Mayawati was asked by her mentor Bahujan Samaj Party founder late Kanshi Ram to jettison her dreams to become a bureaucrat from the SC quota."You will become a big personality where IAS, IPS officers shall be at your beck and call, so why try for Civil Services?" was the advice given to her by Kanshi Ram. And Mayawati did. Four times she became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and the moolah that she and her family raked in is there for all to see. Just go and visit her village near Greater Noida.The Taj corridor case, atrociously expensive birthday celebrations, disproportionate assets case, erecting statues, the NRHM scam and numerous other scams. Her birthdays were marked as Jan Kalyan Divas and were a big glare for the media in which she came into view with diamond studded jewellery and garland made up of Rs. 1000 currency notes. The estimated value of her possessions and property runs into millions of dollars.In 2012, she declared her assets which were approximately worth Rs. 111.26 crore. While in power, Mayawati erected innumerable statues(including several of herself) and constructed a numbers of parks throughout the state, while the SC/ST were mired in poverty. In year 2011 she inaugurated Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden in Noida which costed a hefty amount of Rs. 685 crores. 4. Lalu Prasad Yadav: The man with the swagger, who was once the kingmaker at the Centre, is out of power in Bihar with the emergence of Nitish Kumar. Lalu Prasad Yadav has been involved in almost 63 cases of corruption out of which the fodder scam shook his career and marked an end to his chief ministerial tenure.The reports submitted showed misappropriation of approximately Rs. 950 crores from the government treasure. The scam involved introducing falsehood in herds of fictitious livestock which were used to manufacture fodder, medicines and equipments for animal husbandry.Although the scam started at a very small scale and was exposed in the year 1996, it continued for a long time and kept spreading till it got top bureaucrats involved into it and converted into a full fledged mafia. Lalu's career was swallowed up in the scam and an end to his tenure was marked. 5. Madhu Koda: The ex-chief minster was a poor tribal from Jharkhand who rose to become a millionaire with interests in mining in faraway places like African countries. Madu Koda is charged with possessing assets worth Rs. 4000 crore by the Enforcement Directorate, which to every one's surprise was one fifth of the amount of the annual budget of Jharkhand. It was also alleged that 30 per cent of the share of this loot money went to the Maoists. His money laundering scam was noted as one of the largest exposed scams of the year 2009.His two very close associates, Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chowdhary were also on the hit list of the I-T dept and Enforcement Directorate. Chowdhary managed to run away to Dubai and Sinha was sent to jail. Five currency counting machines were found at Koda's residence which indicated the amount of money he owned. He expanded his business horizons by buying hotels and properties overseas in countries like Thailand, Liberia, Dubai, Indonesia and Malaysia. 6. B. S. Yeddyurappa: This was a chief minister with a difference. The remarkable conquest of BJP in 2008 Karnataka Assembly Elections brought Yeddyurappa to power by making him the 19th Chief Minister of the state. He allegedly took undue advantage of his position and favored his sons in allotment of land in Bangalore.He allgedly purchased land for Rs. 40 lacs and re-sold it to a mining company for Rs.20 crores, fetching him a huge profit. He denied all the allegations and in his support he showed his assets worth only Rs. 11 crore which let him walk out scot free. Surprisingly, his assets were valued Rs. 1.82 crores after 2 years marking a 500% increase.He was arrested after a long show of political drama and was released on bail after 23 days of imprisonment. 7. Sharad Pawar: The man who could have been India's Prime Minister is a shrewd businessman. He may have made his pocketborough Baramati into a showpiece with industries, educational institutions and the lot, but he personally owns a huge empire.He has been in power numerous times and has made utmost use of it. He has served the country in different roles i.e. as chief minister of Maharashtra, Minister of defence and currently he serves as the Minister of Agriculture.His affection for money is not a hush hush affair for many. His name was cited by Abdul Karim Telgi relating him with the 600 billion stamp-paper scam. Rumors have it that he is also reported to have enjoyed a good relation with the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Pawar has also been involved in the multi crore wheat scam. City Corporation Ltd. which made a contentious appearance during the IPL bidding holds names of Pawar's family members as imperative shareholders. The Lavasa deal is the latest.