BAPTISM BY FIRE

As a Bharat Adivasi Party MLA lands in a graft case, the BJP lets loose its full artillery in tribal Banswara

- By Rohit Parihar

LIKE A KEEN-EYED kingfisher perched near the water in one of the bird sanctuaries of lake-rich Banswara, it was almost as if they were waiting to pounce on a straying fish. Jai Krishn Patel obliged, or so it looks like. The MLA from Bagidora, a young tribal leader of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), was allegedly caught accepting Rs 20 lakh, as part of a putative bribe of Rs 2 crore. Reportedly in exchange for withdrawing, from the assembly, questions on a mining contract and related illegalities, and promising to keep mum on the matter. Patel got the rap, landed in prison. The cash was allegedly recovered, buried in the soil by kinfolk. Soon, the BJP was unleashing a full-spectrum fusillade of protests against the tribal leader all across the district.