I have never dealt with BP Acharya. I don’t know and I don’t really care whether he was corrupt, whether he was competent or whether he was merely a clown. But to those who know me that should not come as a surprise. I have spent most of my professional life staying clear of over-rated bureaucrats and lumber jack governments.

I have had the fortune of course to make exceptions and dealt with some IAS officers who enslaved me with the force of their demeanour and their irrefutable skill at being beacons of hope in an otherwise dull and morose environment. But these officers are few and far between.

So when I read that BP Acharya was accused No. 1 or whatever in some case or the other, I didn’t feel any need to react. I could just hope that justice would prevail. But this morning’s papers gave me reason to react and I am yet to get off the floor where I am rolling around laughing.

The cheek of it! The sheer idiocy! The rather insane twist to the Acharya case is the plaintive cry from his wife demanding that the Government bear the expenses of his legal defence.

Suddenly I saw visions of everyone from Kalmadi to Karunanidhi standing in line outside relevant portals waiting for the alms of Government (read Public) funds to defend themselves from the consequences of their corruption. And I could see alleged scamsters like Raju, Reddy and Rao demanding that the Government bail them out.

To a government that’s used to rescuing lost cases like Kingfisher Airlines, and then giving thousands of crores to SBI to compensate for all the unviable priority sector shenanigans that the bank was forced into, I guess the demand is not surprising.

But to me it sounds rather odd. Funny odd, if you know what I mean.

On the one hand you have an individual who is being accused of having bent the rules for a price that caused the very Government he serves grave bodily harm. On the other hand the same individual’s spouse feels that it is upto the Government to pay for his legal advisors.

So get ready to meet Mr. Petty Crook being represented by Ram Jethmalani or even by Mr. PC Chidambaram. After all, if the Government can pay the legal fees, the crooks may as well hire the best…right?