Author: Manish Tiwari
Publication: Daily Post India
Date: March 12, 2012
URL: http://dailypostindia.com/news/14220-faulty-ib-punjab-intelligence-inputs-did-cong-in.html

[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kenra: It seems that the publication sees nothing wrong in the gross misuse of a government machinery for party purposes.  Such things happen only in dictatorship – both of the proletariats or otherwise.  It is also clear that the media has been willing to be used for the purpose of political propaganda.]

It may well come as a shocker to both the Congress high command as well as the Akali-BJP leadership in Punjab. A well-orchestrated plan was worked out by some Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers, drawing on the nosed-to-the-ground pre-poll assessment of Punjab intelligence, to make the Congress high command believe that the party was winning the Punjab polls. Not resting at that, they managed to bring the party high command round to the view that the tally could go higher in case Capt Amarinder Singh was projected as the chief ministerial candidate.
 
Investigations made by Daily Post reveal that it was the IB input reportedly based on Punjab intelligence assessment, giving the Congress 62 to 65 seats, and the unsuspecting party high command’s unwavering faith that did the Congress in. What pushed the high command further into buying this assessment was the IB report, quoting Punjab intelligence input, that the Congress tally could even go up to 70-72 seats, if Capt Amarinder was projected as CM candidate, top Congress sources in New Delhi told Daily Post, on Sunday.
 
Keen on converting the edge these gave to the Congress into a decisive win, the high command sank further into the quagmire of unquestioning faith in the IB. This explains the Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi breaking away from the party’s age-old tradition and making the unusual announcement projecting Capt Amarinder as chief ministerial candidate, just days before the polls.
 
Incidentally, the present IB chief Nehchal Sandhu, a Bihar cadre 1973-batch IPS officer, is considered a close friend of Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder. On the other hand, the inputs were reportedly “leaked” to some sections of the media and top police brass to whirr a positive environment in favour of the Congress ahead of the polls. Foxed and caught off guard, the Congress high command, especially Sonia Gandhi, has now started assessing the reasons for the party’s drubbing at the hands of the Akali-BJP combine in Punjab and completely opposite results. On its part, the SAD-BJP leadership, too, has begun to look into the role played by some intelligence officers, especially those holding the rank of SP, who seemed to bat on both sides.
 
Initially, it appeared that Rahul had decided at his own level to announce Capt Amarinder as the party’s CM candidate, but it later turned out that all this was done at the behest of the high command, and formed a part of the well-oiled strategy drawn on IB inputs. In the run-up to and after the polls, the IB was constantly in touch with the state intelligence and also had occasional meetings to share the inputs.
 
Daily Post learns that punters in the ‘satta’ market also got carried away, leaning on “leaked” IB and state intelligence reports that lent credence to the buzz in the marketplace around the Congress winning the elections. These assessments also made some top ranking IPS officers in the Punjab Police headquarters make a beeline to the Motibagh Palace in Patiala, the residence of Capt Amarinder, before and after the polls.
 
“Before the results came out, Capt Amarinder told me that the party was winning about 70 seats as per the IB and Punjab intelligence inputs,” said a Congress candidate who successfully contested the elections in Majha.
 
The poll debacle, however, sent top IB brass scurrying for a cover. They lost no time in spinning a cover-up and gave out the story to the Congress high command that the party lost in Punjab largely due to the PPP factor. Incidentally, these very officers of the two agencies had made their assessment after factoring in all aspects, including rebels, PPP, Dera Sacha Sauda, etc.
 
It’s another matter though that the reports of both the IB and state intelligence, as in the past, always talk in many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and sometimes, two different sets of reports are readied for two different political sides. But in this case, both agencies were near unanimous that the Congress was winning. Maybe it happened due to the use of faulty methods or the agencies got influenced by biased officers who had worked in the state intelligence in the past, as well as those presently serving in the IB.