Audit Dollar-Seeking Sallies of CMs

Network is now the new net worth for the Indian political class.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

ETWORK is now the new net worth for the Indian political class. Dollar chasing is the most popular obsession of Union ministers and chief ministers who are spreading their carbon footprint, landing in Washington, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, London, Paris and Bonn with hype and hope. Each year starts with netas making a beeline for the super-expensive ski town Davos in Switzerland, where billionaires gather to dictate with money the policy of nations. Our politicians may be divided by political identity, but are united by one lust: get foreign money for their states in the name of development.

Last week, five Union ministers and three chief ministers, along with 100-odd babus in tow, were seen confabulating with global barons, lobbying for lucre in the salubrious spaces of the World Economic Forum: visits that cost around ₹50 lakh per person for membership fees and other expenses.

Davos isn't their only port of call. Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, he, his ministers and BJP CMs, along with their highly competitive counterparts from other parties, have been frequently tapping the world's coffers to attract investment. Modi, when he was running Gujarat, was one of the most active chief ministers wooing foreign capital. There is hardly a CM who hasn't wooed friendly governments, offering their fiefdoms as money-making markets. Vociferously advertising their foreign trips is their financial hobby.

A glance at some recent junkets.