Karnataka elections: Forget any corruption taint; winnability is all that counts

Katta Subramanya Naidu (second from left)

Ramakrishna Upadhya

As far as the fight against the rapacious mining barons of Ballari is concerned, Karnataka’s politics has come a full circle.

It was in July-August 2010 that the then Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had spearheaded a 320-km padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari to highlight the “loot of natural resources” under the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa and told a massive, cheering crowd in Ballari town: “Our party will return to power and put these looters behind bars.”

Cut to April 2018, Siddaramaiah has been chief minister of Karnataka for the last five years. While the mining activity is now being closely monitored by the Supreme Court, the “looters” are very much at large and ironically, the Congress party has given tickets to some of them to contest the May 12 assembly elections.

After the BJP denied party tickets to sitting MLAs B Nagendra and Anand Singh, the Congress promptly adopted them and is fielding them from Ballari rural and Vijayanagara constituencies respectively. Anil Lad, another mining lord, has been repeated from Ballari city.

The BJP, for its part, has selected Janardhana Reddy’s brother, Somashekhara Reddy and TS Suresh Babu, while JD(S) has given a party ticket to mining contractor, Iqbal Ahmed Hottur, who has declared assets worth Rs590 crore.

From Nagendra to Hottur, what distinguishes all of them is that they have served varying periods of jail terms for their alleged involvement in the mining scams which were investigated by the CBI and SIT, but most of the cases are yet to see closure. Somashekhara Reddy, incidentally, was allegedly caught red-handed trying to bribe a judge to obtain bail for Janaradhana Reddy, who spent nearly three years behind bars.

For the ordinary people of Ballari, life has not really changed. The environmental destruction caused by the miners to the district moved the Supreme Court to order that ‘the polluters pay’ towards rejuvenation of the land, but crores of rupees thus collected remain locked up in bureaucratic red-tape.

Now that all parties have joined hands to offer the very same ‘culprits’ as their candidates, the people of Ballari have little hope that things will ever change.

If this is the story of Ballari, the situation is equally grim in many other constituencies.

BJP’s former industries minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, who has been given a ticket from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, had caused huge embarrassment to the Yeddyurappa government with his alleged involvement in a land scam.

Naidu and his son, Katta Jagadeesh, had been accused of receiving Rs 87 crore as kickback for illegal allotment of 325 acres of prime land to Itaska Software Company through Karnataka Industrial Area development Board (KIADB). After the scandal broke out, Naidu was forced to resign from the cabinet. Police investigations revealed that the father-son duo had indeed received Rs87 crore from Itaska into their bank accounts. Naidu, Jagadeesh and several officials of KIADB were arrested and they remained in custody for a few months.

The high court, in its wisdom, subsequently held that the land allotment was made by the state high-level committee headed by the chief minister, and though Itaska had transferred money to Naidu and his son’s accounts, “the natural course of the case does not indicate direct demand and receipt of illegal gratification,” and hence all the accused were acquitted.

Another controversial minister in the Yeddyurappa government, Krishnaiah Setty, who had been jailed along with Yeddyurappa in a land denotification case, has also made a comeback and become a BJP candidate from Malur.

Haratalu Halappa, who had quit Yeddyurappa cabinet after allegations of raping his friend’s wife surfaced, but was acquitted later “for want of evidence”, is the BJP candidate from Sagara. MP Renukacharya, who was accused of sexually harassing a nurse when he was a minister, is in the fray from Honnali.

CP Yogeshwar, who is facing investigation for allegedly cheating people after promising housing sites, has switched over from Congress to BJP and he is contesting from Chennapatna. State JD(S) president and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, has filed nomination against Yogeshwar – which involves Vokkaliga rivalry – apart from his home turf, Ramanagara.

Congress legislator Muniratna, who is one of the main accused in swindling the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) of Rs 1,500 crore through fake and inflated bills, is again being fielded from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru.

Thus, clearly, come election time, political parties that pay lip-service to fighting corruption, fall back on the corrupt, because they have the money and muscle power to get elected. It’s all about backing the ‘winning horses’ and staking claim for power.

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