Karnataka Elections 2023: Corruption is state BJP’s Achilles heel and the party shot itself in the foot

The recent arrest of a BJP MLA’s son by the Lok Ayukta, the state’s anti-graft body, has put the party on the back foot. (Representative image)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka has been sitting pretty even after being repeatedly hit by a barrage of corruption charges because the opposition Congress and Janata Dal(S) have consistently adopted a rather soft approach.

But the recent arrest of a BJP MLA’s son by the Lok Ayukta, the state’s anti-graft body, has put the party on the back foot, just when assembly elections are round the corner.

Stench Of Corruption

While the then Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa was compulsorily retired midterm in 2021 after he and his family members faced serious allegations, his successor Basavaraj Bommai decided to brazen it out, often contemptuously demanding proof from those who complained of corruption. Bommai was left red-faced when the proof came in the form of a Lok Ayukta announcement  that it had caught redhanded Madal Prashant, a bureaucrat, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh allegedly on behalf of his father Madal Virupakshappa, BJP MLA and Chairman of the state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL).

Subsequent raids on the houses of the father and son allegedly yielded about Rs 8 crore in cash. While Prashant and the other accused were arrested, Virupakshappa who is Accused No 1 gave police the slip and was absconding for five days until he was granted anticipatory bail by the Karnataka High Court. Virupakshappa’s statement that he had not gone missing, but was all the while at home, raises questions on why the police did not arrest him.

Scandal After Scandal

The BJP which normally takes the moral high ground on the issue of corruption, also failed to suspend the MLA from the party, giving rise to suspicion that a major cover-up is underway, despite claims to the contrary. In fact, this has been the attitude of the government towards all instances of corruption.

The first stone was hurled against the Bommai government by the Karnataka State Contractors Association (KSCA) which in a letter to the Prime Minister complained that 40 percent commission had to be paid for government contracts and clearance of bills. Instead of ordering an impartial inquiry, association president D Kempanna and other office-bearers were arrested at midnight on charges of defamation.

This was followed by another letter to the Prime Minister by two associations representing 13,000 schools regarding the huge bribes allegedly being demanded by the education department. A prominent Lingayat seer Dingaleshwar Swamiji went on record that government officers were seeking a cut of 30 percent to release funds to religious institutions. A BJP worker and contractor died by suicide and left behind a note accusing the then Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa of demanding 40 percent commission for releasing payment for the civic works he had undertaken. Eshwarappa was later exonerated.

The recruitment of teachers and police sub inspectors led to another scam in which several people were arrested, while the big fish went scot free.

A Magnanimous Opposition

In 2021, immediately after taking over as Chief Minister, Bommai himself pointed to a possible scandal in Bengaluru where Rs 20,000 crore was spent on road repair alone in five years. Predictably, nothing came out of the inquiry that he promised and this scam too was pushed under the carpet like all others.

Had a government in any other state been exposed to such mega scams, the opposition would have brought the roof down, but in Karnataka, the Congress and JD(S) have failed to seize the opportunity, remaining rather complicit, but for some perfunctory protests. Traditionally, politicians in the state take pride in not being “vindictive” and they seem to have adopted the “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” approach.

The BJP, which says the Congress is no saint, accuses the Siddaramaiah government of indulging in large-scale corruption during its stint from 2013 to 2018. Yet, the BJP regime did not order a single inquiry against the Congress government. Similarly, Siddaramaiah and his successor HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) had taken a lenient view of their predecessor Yediyurappa and a few other ministers who went to jail over corruption. Ironically, whenever BJP leaders were imprisoned or caught, it was their own party and not Congress or JD(S) that was in power.

The public bickering by Karnataka politicians is often a smoke screen to fool the people, as in private, many of them are known to be business partners though they may belong to different parties. A typical case of divided by ideology, but united by corruption.

M Gautham Machaiah is a senior journalist and political commentator based in Bengaluru. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of the publication.