Mystery surrounds Sakhlecha's Nepal trip

 NK SINGH

Ever heard of a New Delhi- Kingston route via New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong? But that is what happened recently when the M.P. Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mukund Sakharam Newalkar, decided to travel to Jamaica to grace the 24th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference there Obviously, on his way back, he decided upon a little sight-seeing abroad and visited America, Japan and Hongkong. This was his second "phoren" tour during the short span that the Janata government has been in existence.

But Chief Minister Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha has been a little unfortunate in the matter of foreign trips. The first time he decided to go on a whistle-stop tour, touching 18 foreign countries in 22 days, in June last, of course on "State business". Prime Minister Desai vetoed it at the last moment saying it was "a mission of dubious value and uncertain results".

Next time, when he flew to Kathmandu in a State plane for a one-day "holiday" even the short trip which does not require the formality of a visa or passport, triggered controversy. 

Of course, the opposition members who alleged in the Rajya Sabha that Sakhlecha had visited Nepal to "smuggle opium worth Rs 37 lakhs" the Chief Minister hails from Mandsaur district famous for the cultivation of the 'black gold' - did not mean it. Even if Sakhlecha is an ace smuggler, as the opposition charge implied, he would not do it himself; Rs 37 lakhs is a petty sum for the Chief Minister of a sprawling state like Madhya Pradesh. 

Quite inexplicably, the State Information Department, which publicizes the tour programmes of every Minister, had not announced the visit.

It came to be known many days after Sakhlecha had returned, and that too by word of mouth.

Besides his wife and two of his children, Sakhlecha was accompanied by Baleshwar Agrawal, the managing director of Hindusthan Samachar, and his friend, P.G. Mudaliar, a former IAS officer. He checked into a private hotel there and returned the next day after "visiting the famous Pashupatinath temple" (A wit commented, "So, Jains- Sakhlecha is a Jain have now started offering prayers in Hindu temples")

When the matter was first raised in the Vidhan Sabha in September, in his characteristic 'tough' manner Sakhlecha became very indignant. He bluntly said it was a Chief Minister's prerogative to decide where he should go or not. He said that he had taken Baleshwar Agrawal -no family friend of his- to Kathmandu because the latter is a Nepal expert' and has wide contacts in that country. 

Pestering correspondents asked at New Delhi-the Bhopal Press is too weak was the need to be accompanied by an 'expert' on a supposedly private visit, and that to a pilgrimage? And was there no 'Nepal expert' available other than Agrawal, a former organiser of the RSS in Banaras Hindu University and Bihar? "I shall take others too on my next trip," said Sakhlecha.

The Nepal connections of the RSS are well known and ever since its inception Hindustan. Samachar, a Sanghi outfit, has maintained a fledged office in that "only Hindu Raj on the earth."

His opponents in the ruling party are still wondering aloud whether Sakhlecha had taken a huge amount 37 lakhs, it was reported to Nepal for use by the former Jana Sangh in the event of the Janata Party breaking up. 

The mysterious conclave of the Jana Sangh organised in all the district towns of the State earlier this year is referred to in this connection. Someone even mentioned the name of a Swiss bank, and Sakhlecha refuted the "canard" by pointing out that the particular bank did not have a branch there. "It shows how baseless the charges are."

Some of Sakhlecha's critics suggested he had gone to Kathmandu to further the business interests of his son, who is fast gaining notoriety in a big way. Even if all these charges are "without foundation" as Sakhlecha's supporters insist-though it does not explain the lacunae in his version there remains one grave charge: misuse of the State plane and taking his family for a holiday at the tax- payers' expense. 

True, he is entitled to use the State aircraft for "non-official" purposes and as per rule he paid a sum of Rs 2,900 to the State exchequer, to cover the expenses of his trip, but the point is, had the party flown by a scheduled flight- much less a chartered flight- the trip would have cost him about Rs 12,000. 

Sakhlecha sought to gloss over it with the excuse that his predecessors used the State plane for purely personal visits but had never paid for them. "My only mistake was my honesty (sic) In admitting that it was a personal visit and in not trying to show it" he remarked. He cited instances of Congress Ministers using the State plane for personal work and never paying for it.

Frontier

November 18, 1978