By IANS,
Raipur : Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pradeep Gandhi, tainted in the 2005 ‘cash-for-query-scam’, has now been made in-charge of the party’s election control room in Chhattisgarh. He was expelled from parliament following a sting operation in which 11 MPs were caught accepting money for posing questions in the house.
Gandhi, who was Lok Sabha MP from the state’s Rajnandgaon constituency, had also been suspended from the party following the expose called ‘Operation Duryodhan’.
The BJP, which has been in power in Chhattisgarh since December 2003, wants to pull off a second straight win in the forthcoming November polls, and has rehabilitated Gandhi assigning him the job to monitor poll-related developments.
As in-charge of the BJP state election control room, Gandhi will track all election-related movements and rush resources to leaders campaigning across the state, the party said in a statement Monday.
The control room was set up at the state party headquarters ‘Ekatm Parisar’ here Sunday. The inaugural function was attended by Chief Minister Raman Singh, state BJP president Vishnudeo Sai and MP Ramesh Bais.
The opposition Congress has ridiculed Gandhi’s rehabilitation. “Now Gandhi will inspire BJP on how to retain power,” remarked state party spokesman Ramesh Varlyani.