AGARTALA, Nov 1 (TIWN): Eventhough Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to come in October month, as the schedule was announced by Tripura BJP President Biplab Deb in a press meet but October month is gone already and now whether Narendra Modi will campaigning in Tripura more than once or not, it has triggered tension among a major section of BJP supporters. 'PM Modi, Amit Shah are much concern about CPI-M ruled Kerala than Tripura', the allegation was brought by state media various times. Apart from that due to Gujrat Election National BJP's focus have been fully distracted from Tripura led a scamster like Himanta Biswa Sarma to campaign in Tripura for BJP hoping to bloom Lotus on the hills, challenging 25 years of CPI-M regime led by Manik Sarkar. But it may be a big blow for BJP as recently, in the Gauhati High Court has directed CBI to Take Over Louis Berger Corruption Case and slams the state CID for loose investigation. Possibility of Biswa Sarma's downfall is much as it was BJP who created an 11-page booklet on the allegations of corruption in the case, where Himanta Biswa Sarma was in charge as powerful Congress leader in Gogoi's era.

CPI-M alleged that while Sarma, on August 29, 2015, jumped ship to the BJP, the Tarun Gogoi government, on August 7 that year, asked the state CID to register a case.

 Stating that the Assam CID has been investigating the multi-crore Louis Berger case in “a partisan manner”, the Gauhati high court has handed over the probe to the CBI.

In a late evening order on September 1, a copy of which is with The Wire, the two-judge bench comprising HC Chief Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Manojit Bhuyan stated, “It is crystal clear that the investigating agency (CID) has not investigated the case in the right earnest and has been conducting the same in a partisan manner. The mystery of such allegations involving misappropriation of enormous public money must not haunt the people of the state indefinitely and must come to a logical end at the earliest.” The HC, on August 2, made CBI a party to the case stating the slow pace of investigation by the CID.

The case has its roots in a July 2015 law suit filed against Louis Berger, a New Jersey-based consultancy firm, by the US department of justice (DoJ) under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Executives of the firm told a US court then that they and their consortium partners had – between 1998 and 2010 – paid bribes worth $976,6630 to unnamed “officials” in the Assam and Goa governments to corner water management consultancy projects.

While the then BJP government in Goa ordered its crime branch to file and FIR against unknown ministers in the former Congress government on the basis of the allegations, the Narendra Modi government also ordered an inquiry into the Goa leg of the allegations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The erstwhile Congress government in Assam came under huge political pressure from the BJP to act on the allegations in the run-up to the then assembly polls. Since the Gauhati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) project was reportedly decided by the Gauhati Development Department, whose minister then was the powerful Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP took a public stand against him in an 11-page booklet on the allegations of corruption in the case.

While Sarma, on August 29, 2015, jumped ship to the BJP, the Tarun Gogoi government, on August 7 that year, asked the state CID to register a case.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation examined former minister and leader of the dissident Congress camp in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, for eight hours in connection with multi-crore Saradha scam. CBI had raided his house and a news channel owned by his wife in Guwahati in August. He is accused of receiving Rs 20 lakh per month from Saradha boss Sudipta Sen, for helping him run his business in Assam, without hassles. 

In this condition, Tripura BJP's future may turn bleak if CBI arrests or inquire Ex-Congress Minister Biswa Sarma.