After the Congress rout in Assembly polls in the four heartland states, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi spoke about reforming the party in ways that cannot be imagined.

He could well start his mission from Chhattisgarh. During the election campaign as well as in the days before votes were counted and results declared, the state unit of the Congress offered cash "gifts" ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 to about 100 journalists based in Raipur saying it was from the "party election fund".

The Indian Express reporter was among those offered the cash, on December 6, two days before the results.

The novel, if not unprecedented, move was not a clandestine operation but one that was apparently fully approved by the party.

It was handled by a new media cell set up just before the elections to "manage journalists", at a time the media, the Election Commission and political parties have been grappling with the problem of paid news.

The cell, headed by state Congress general secretary and ex-MLA Ramesh Warlyani, made a list of Raipur-based journalists and earmarked amounts for each of them. Warlyani, who is said to be close to AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vora, is believed to have got funds from the party and offered it to the journalists.

The list, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, has names of about 100 journalists, cameramen, photographers of almost all newspapers, TV channels and news agencies, Hindi and English, regional and national, operating in Raipur.

The six-page list has Warlyani's signature on each page. It also mentions an amount against each name  Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for reporters and Rs 5,000 for cameramen  and totals it to Rs 20 lakh. Warlyani's signature appears just below the total amount.

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