The Curious Case Of Robert Vadra

1997 marked the ascent of Robert Vadra—that was the year when he became a part of the Gandhi family through his hushed-up marriage with Priyanka Gandhi. Exactly 15 years later, 2012 marked the beginning of his possible downfall—the year when Ashok Khemka, a senior Haryana IAS officer, kicked up a political storm by alleging irregularities in the land dealings between Vadra and DLF, the country’s largest realtor by market capitalisation, in the state. Khemka’s accusation led to a cascade of media reports detailing his dubious property deals, including one by The Wall Street Journal, probes and negative campaign against the Gandhi family and the Congress which is said to have augmented the fall of Congress, headed by Vadra’a mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi, in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Vadra, born in 1969 to Rajendra and Maureen Vadra (whose family originally hailed from Scotland), has one among the crores of anonymous Delhiites till 1991 when Priyanka met him at a party arranged by Gandhi family’s Italian friends. His father Rajendra Vadra, who belonged to Moradabad in UP and whose family originally hailed from Pakistan (they moved to India at the time of partition), ran a business involving exports of brass and wood handicraft. Following his father’s footsteps, Robert Vadra—whose two siblings Richard and Michelle are no more (his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001, while brother Richard committed suicide in 2006)—was running a lesser-known costume jewellery export firm in Delhi when he met Priyanka. Their six-year-long courtship resulting in a cloistered marriage attended by hardly 150 guests opened a whole new chapter in Vadra’s life.

Vadra, who is known to be a fan of dance and music, kept himself busy even since, dabbling between his diverse roles as Priyanka’s hubby, Congress president’s son-in-law, father of his children Raihan and Miraya and promoter of growing business interests. He also hogged the limelight in two other more intriguing avatars—as a fitness freak and a car and bike enthusiast. Vadra, who used to run a fitness bulletin on his Facebook page, boasts of working out hard to trim 20 kgs in five years. He gleefully owns Mercedes, BMW, Land Rover and Jaguar, besides his Rs 15 lakh 1800 cc cruise bike Suzuki Intruder.

The string of events that sent him on a downward trail began in 2009, when he started buying tracts of arid agricultural land around Kolayat, a small town in Rajasthan. Soon after this, the central government announced plans to promote land-intensive solar-energy production for which the pieces of land Vadra purchase were suited, leading to a six-fold spike in the value of the land he bought within a few years. This was in addition to the realty assets he purchased in Haryana, including the deals between him and DLF which triggered Khemka’s allegations. According to The Wall Street Journal, as of the end of 2012 Vadra sold property worth more than $12 million and the value of realty assets he still possessed was about $42 million.

During the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections Narendra Modi used every opportunity to take a dig at the Gandhi family by referring to Vadra’s questionable land deals. Now that Modi is in power and Congress’ fortunes are on a sharp downward spiral, Vadra has been winding up a clutch of his companies; six among them—Lifeline Agrotech, Greenwave Agro, Rightline Agriculture, Future Infra Agro, Best Seasons Agro and Primetime Agro—have already been dissolved or are getting dissolved. However, it is early to ascertain if a frantic attempt to shed firms and assets will help Vadra escape the scrutiny of law enforcement agencies, media and public, and turn around his fortunes; and in the process stop supplying ammunition to the acidic baiters of Sonia Gandhi and Congress.