Reference Auto

Niira Radia tapes have opened a can of worms. It began with the scalp of former telecom minister A Raja, then it was on the verge of tarnishing Ratan Tata’s image, added to the list of Congress party’s corruption woes, and now, DMK boss M Karunanidhi’s third wife and Kanimozhi’s mother is believed to be involved along with a few of A Raja’s aides.

The Congress and the DMK have no choice but to remain mum as a DMK walkout in Delhi could topple the Congress government at the Centre and a similar walkout by the Congress in Tamil Nadu could put the DMK in trouble.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had recently reprimanded the BJP for doubting the integrity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Well, he may be the cleanest politician around, but with regard to the 2G scam, why was he silent for a year and how could Raja be allowed to drain the coffers of a whopping Rs 1.76 lakh crore?

Could no journalist present at the inteaction ask her that? Was the PMO clueless on what was going on for over a year? Very, very difficult to believe.

However, the smaller fry have been made to pay the price. For instance, former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan was asked to leave for his involvement in the Adarsh Society scam. Now, the axe is set to fall on another former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is now Union heavy industries minister. He may also have to follow suit for his alleged role in shielding an MLA’s money-lender kin who was charged with illegal money lending to suicide-prone Vidarbha farmers.

May be the Congress’ cleansing drive will take a toll on these Maharashtra stalwarts. But what about the DMK and Raja? Will the CBI also have to throw up its hands in despair?

Sad to see the Hero group split with its long-time partner Japan’s Honda, a joint venture that made India’s finest motorcycles. The two companies were a formidable force - the joint venture was the largest motorcycle maker in the world. The split is apparently because of differences over ‘certain’ issues. Honda is likely to sell its entire stake of 26% to the Munjal family for $1 billion.

So, what is likely to happen with a split? First and foremost, the motorcycles, which will come under a different brand name now, are likely to suffer from quality issues with Honda no more being a partner (Honda’s cars and motorcycles are arguably among the best in the world in terms of quality).

Could this mean the end of the road for Hero’s motorcycle ambition or can Hero rope in another global player to stay afloat or even rev up?