Once known as the strongman of south-western city, Chongqing, he will face trial for crimes that range from abuse of power to taking bribes and improper sexual relations. Axing Bo is seen as a calibrated campaign to limit damage to the party and leadership. Ironically, the decision was announced while setting Nov 8 as the date for the once in a decade party Congress.

Bo himself was a candidate for promotion to the big league before his scandal hit the headlines early this year with his trusted aide, Wang Lijun, who was also the local police chief, turned against him.
 
“Bo Xilai’s behaviour created serious negative consequences, seriously damaged the party and the country’s reputation in China and abroad, created an extremely negative result, and created huge losses for the party and the Chinese people”, the announcement carried by the state –run new agency said

It added: “Bo made serious errors and he bears the major responsibility for the scandal that saw Gu Kailai (his wife) convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood after a multi-million-dollar deal went sour. Bo seriously violated party discipline and abused his power with regard to the Gu Kailai and Wang Lijun cases, made serious errors, for which he bears the major responsibility, abused his public position to aid others and, directly and through family members, received huge bribes from others. Gu Kailai used Bo Xilai’s public position to win favours for others, including family members. Bo’s family members received huge financial benefits from others, and Bo had inappropriate sexual relationships with several women."

Despite the great fall, Bo, a politburo member till his sack, and a former minister of commerce, enjoys a cult figure status among the Communist cadres who are uncomfortable with Bamboo Capitalism, and crave a return to the hard-line days.

In his hey days, Bo Xilai was a “princeling” of the Party aristocracy and charismatic member of the Politburo.  He transformed the face of Chongqing on the Yangtze River mixing hard line Communism with populism. As he became a darling of the 32 million people (Chongqing population), his development model appealed to people, who were concerned with increasing corruption and lip service to social welfare.

His undoing was his thirst for power and his wife’s ambition for good things in life. Unlike most of his contemporaries, who are steeped in corruption, he challenged the rules of the system, and even aspired for a berth on the powerful Standing Committee of Politburo. He openly canvassed for his promotion with mass rallies of Red Songs and circulating Red Texts Mao’s sayings) through SMSes. While showing the door to him, the Politburo has branded him as corrupt, in what is certainly an ironical turn to the Bo Xilai story.

The message from Bo Xilai is that up coming satraps should not cross the Red Lines if they want to survive and progress. If the Red Line is breached allies in powerful positions will be helpless. Bo is known to have a wide support base among top leaders since his father Bo Yibo, once wielded enormous influence. Despite their I OY (I owe you a return favour), they were reluctant to come to his aide.

Bo’s troubles started in March when he was sacked as the chief of Chongqing Communist party. The death of Neil Heywood, a British business associate of the family shook Chongqing. Efforts at cover up exposed his wife’s role in the murder and made the Yangtze water murkier. Compounding Bo’s misery, Wang Lijun fled to a United States Consulate in nearby Chengdu and spilled the beans on his wife. Lijun was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison on Sept. 24 for defection, bribery, abuse of power and "bending the law for selfish ends.  Bo’s wife was convicted on August 20 and was awarded a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, which in layman’s terms means that she may spend rest of her life in jail.
 
Probably, Bo could have escaped the purge with all the severe penalties that go with the order had his troubles not coincided with the party Congress. Outgoing general secretary Hu Jintao will like to hand over the reins of the party leadership on   a relatively clean slate to his chosen successor Xi Jinping. He will not like the Bo saga to remain on front pages, as it has the potential of distracting the party leaders coming to the capital from all over the country. Such distraction at a time the economy is in poor shape is an invitation to trouble for the CCP which, despite Politburo’s iron grip, is unable to hide the faultiness.

Now it is clear that the trial of Bo will be hastened and completed before the ‘transition’ in leadership as much to cleanse the stable as to send a stern warning to the Bos in the making.