To call the year 2011 the most difficult year for the ruling UPA will not be an understatement. The beleaguered Congress has had to face several embarrassing moments this year and has been in a continuous fire-fighting mode.
2G scam
In what is touted as the mother of all scams, the CBI arrested former telecom minister A Raja in on February 02 this year in connection with 2G spectrum scam. CBI also arrested Raja`s former personal secretary RK Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura. Raja was forced to resign on November 14 last year in the wake of the CAG report which held that spectrum allocated at undervalued prices on 2008 resulted in a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer.
Cash-for-Votes scam
The Parliament was rocked by protests on March 18 after it emerged that the Congress party had tried to buy votes of MPs to ensure that Manmohan Singh government survived the crucial vote of confidence on the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008. The revelations were contained in the secret US State Department cable (162458) sent on July 17, 2008, sent by US Charge d`Affaires Steven White.
CWG scam, Kalmadi arrested
Law finally caught up with sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, 66, who was arrested on April 25 by CBI on charges of cheating, conspiracy and corruption in connection with awarding some Games contracts. Besides other allegations, he is alleged to have awarded illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer.
Scam-hit Yeddyurappa
Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa surrendered before a Lokayukta court on October 15 in Bangalore after the court had issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with two land denotification cases. One of the complaints concerned denotification of government land in Geddalahalli and in Devarachikkanahalli and Arakere in favour of people close to the former CM. The second case related to denotification of land in Uttarahalli and Agara villages. He has subsequently got bail in the same case.
Goa mining scam
Goa government on October 19 admitted before the Bombay HC that there has been illegal extraction of iron ore in the state. In the affidavit before Bombay High Court`s Goa bench, Mines and Geology department said that 6,000 tons of iron ore was extracted in excess of Environment Clearance (EC) limits last fiscal. Meanwhile, Justice M B Shah Commission, probing into the charges of alleged illegal mining in Goa, has completed the process of collecting data from the iron ore mines.