The Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, has provided an appropriate curtain-raiser to the “Sadhane Samavesha” (convention of achievements) of the two-year-old BJP government in Karnataka by shining a grim light on the dark and devious role being played by B.S. Yediyurappa‘s regime in shielding the corrupt.
Justice Hegde has exposed the BJP government’s efforts to thwart his efforts to catch the corrupt; he has shown how corrupt officials were reinstated despite the cheif minister’s assurances; he has thrown light on how 5,00,000 tonnes of iron ore transported illegally from Bellary and seized by forest authorities “disappeared”. Etcetera.
Simply put, Justice Hegde has shown how the Yediyurappa dispensation which takes the high moral road in public takes a low immoral one in private. At another level, the charges are more proof of why Karnataka continues to to the corruption charts. Naturally, political motives are being attributed to the timing of the Lok Ayukta’s resignation as indeed the revelations made by him.
Questions: In his lust for office, is B.S. Yediyurappa shielding the corrupt? Or is this nothing compared to the corruption of the Congress and JDS? Is this more proof that BJP is no different from the Congress? More to the point, looking at the kind of headlines Karnataka is making, is namma cheluva naadu, India’s most corrupt State?
Also read: Why has corruption become such a small issue?
GOOD NEWS: Karnataka beats AP, TN, Kerala
How China changed the politics of Karnataka
CHURUMURI POLL: Karnataka, Bihar of the South?
When did a Rs 10 crore bribe stop moving us?
CHURUMURI POLL: India’s most corrupt CM?
Yes of course Karnataka has become most corrupt state.
Why Churumuri is not writing on Road widening issue ? It is impacting thousands of families, traders as their properties are being marked. why should road widening be taken up by demolishing part of existing properly built buildings ? where will the people living in those homes or those who are having shops will go ?
For this road-widening/building demolition reason alone BJP should be shown its doors in coming up elections whenever it is.
not as corrupt as pawar’s maharashtra
It is unfortunate that the Lok Ayukta was compelled to quit. It shows to what levels corruption has spread in the State. Justice Hegde should launch a movement against corruption in administration and corrupt officials in the State, along with other activists and NGOs. I am sure he will get good support. One action could be public hearings against corrupt officials and filing of cases in courts. Such efforts have been successful in some States.
Yediyurappa is up to no good. I know first hand how his team thwarted a recent routine Police transfers, for they wanted to sell each good postings in Bangalore at Rs.15lakhs. How can police be honest, if top officials have to pay to be in their position?
BJP is worse than congress – for Congress atleast shows some sensitivity to corruption allegation and atleast puts on a show of action against it. BJP is brazen.
What good is crying in public about how he compromised his principles for chair? Isn’t it better to resign like Mr. Hegde has done?
The reason why Gujaraat votes for Modi, time and again, is because Gujarati’s know he is non-corrupt and efficient administrator. He doesn’t have his children going around doing corrupt deals. He doesn’t have Reddy’s ruling by proxy.
In Karnataka BJP will loose the moment Congress gets its act together – Which begs the question – WILL IT?
If yes, whats wrong? Why it should not be.
I think the wealth (as much as possible and in as liitle time as possible) should be acquired by people from all sides of ideological divide. Folks think about the gini coefficient.
I would like to see 4-5 dollar billionaires in every district (I mean not Forbes/Fortunewala paper billionaires, asli cashwala) of India. Only people who can become one in shortest possible time are politicians.
>In his lust for office, is B.S. Yediyurappa shielding the corrupt?
Harkol Saab, Rajaki kab aayegi barat?
Is the BJP Ruled by evening crying morning laughing Yeddi corrupt? Well…is there any doubt? Agreed most of the recent governments in karnataka are down right corrupt but this is the height that will be tough to match:-) This fool of a CM has no clue how to govern a state that has expressed such total mandate in BJP’s favor. How would he have a clue when the chair makers are raping the state? He just flies behind where ever his chair moves just to catch it so that the world knows he still is a CM (Dysfunctional). I am inclined to think that the Kumaranna’s Administration was a bit better (Though it must be said they werent less corrupt but they stand next to nothing compared to the present government of Reddy Bro’s)
DailyBread Sahebre, it appears there is always a lot of sarcasm in your comments! I am just hoping that thats not the real you!
We the people of India do not deserve anything better. Repeatedly, we elect third rated goons at all levels. Whenever a good politician stands for an election, we tell them, politics is not for people like them. Manmohan Singh has the qualifications to become the PM but not to get elected from the people of India. I think that sums it all.
@Harkol: how can top politicians be honest if they have to spend 10 crore to get elected? How can police be honest if they have to pay 15 lakhs for a posting? How can constables be honest if senior police officers harass them? How can we (the people of India) be honest if police demand 1000Rs from usf? We have built a society where, if you are rational you have to be corrupt!!!
I think there is no difference between congress or the BJP or the JDS.
For those who don’t know, Loksatta party is trying to be different. Not sure to what extent it will succeed, but if you think current political parties are no good, have a look at their website (search for lok satta) and consider supporting them.
Another anti-BJP article and flavour. When will you grow up Churumuri?????
Mayawati is looting. She doesnot have lakhs of rupees to pay to victims of stamped but has thousands of crores of rupees to build her own statues. In Maharashtra, farmers are dying but ruling party is behind IPL and how to make money. In West Bengal, Govt. is fighting its survival without caring for Naxal problem. In Tamil Nadu, Govt. is spending 380 crores for a conference. I do not see any work happening in Andhra Pradesh after YSR death. Central Govt. doesnot have a clue how to solve Naxal problem and its ministers do not even attend cabinet meetings, the central govt. doesnot have guts to take a decision on a culprit who came to kill them (parlimentarians) only, the PM is not confident to take a decsion by himself and transfers all decisions to “Empowered” group of minsiters for recommendation……
The list goes on…..
Compare to all this, there is Governance, and definitely a better one compared to all above, in Karnataka.
Inspite of this if Churumuri is asking if Karnataka is the most corrupt state in India, do we need to say anything? Its quite obvious….. :(
Is BJP more corrupt than other parties? I doubt it but I am sure BJP has become a ‘corruption’ force to reckon with:)
I am not very convinced about Santhosh Hegde’s act: he should have continued doing his job and given wide publicity to the good work he was doing. Also, I find it strange and even bizarre as to why Hegde’s office is only looking at corrupt officials unless that is the charter of Lokayukta. How about the politicians? How come they continue to enjoy their wealth without any scrutiny?
All CMs have shielded the corrupt officials-that’s because it is in their interest and ‘income’ to do so! Yeddi is only a big tar blister on the corrupt political road that is Karnataka.
The BJP should know the maturity of the karnataka electorate , each of their action is being monitored,if they don’t heed to this the only reason they might come back to power again is becoz the corrupt Cong-I cannot get its act together.For India its always been a choice of either the devil or the deep blue sea.
Mahesh:
>For this road-widening/building demolition reason alone BJP should be shown its doors in coming up elections whenever it is.
I agree this is cruel on people being displaced and is a hard thing for many families affected.
But, what could be an alternative? I have asked this myself and have failed to come up with a satisfactory answer. Our city has grown beyond bounds, and today the only way to create infrastrcture is to breakdown some existing structure somewhere or the other. :-(
While it isn’t entirely unavoidable – the best thing they could do is to offer some _real_ compensation, instead of untradeable TDR. I think the right thing to do would be to offer an equally good alternative site or commercial location.
But, Yeddy and co and so busy grabbing all the money they have become blind to all this.
How idiotic someone like Ishwarappa be to say Mr. Hegde did it out of Political Compulsion!!!! IDIOT OF FIRST DEGREE.
***
DailyBread:
>Harkol Saab, Rajaki kab aayegi barat?
Didn’t get it… Which Raja? Are you referring to Congress?
I suspect, we are going to see a role reversal in next election. Congress will loose the center and win in Karnataka! People will be fed up of antics of Reddy’s and yeddys by then here, and People will reject the arrogance of Congies in Center.
BSY and his gang of thugs have let down the state and its people. This guy seems to be clueless about what he wants to do and what he is doing. All these infrastructure projects are another way to line the pockets of the BJP crooks and enrich the party coffers. The sooner these people go the better for the state. But what will be the alternative, Kaangress OR JD-S which are worse off than BJP. We kannadigas are in for a long haul with these crooked politicians.
You left liberal perfumed ass journalists are such a joke! What was the amount of corruption done by the [b] most decent man’s [/b] cabinet some 60,000 crores right!
Why ddint you guys create a poll on whether [b] Manmohan’s cabinet is the most corrupt in the history of mankind [/b]. I don’t think either 60,000 crore corruption has taken place in Karnataka nor is votes boutht for 1000 rupees as in Tamil Nadu. In fact Karnataka is in better shape under ‘BJP government’
In fact the Delhi based bottomless journalists and their media houses have never bothered about south India until BJP got to power in one state; giving them enough fodder to fight ‘Hindu’ fascism.
General public can only laugh at you guys, this banality can be taken seriously
BTW why can’t Krishna Prasad get Vinod Mehta’s permission to carry a cover story on how Rajiv Gandhi gave safe passage to Warren Anderson? Nah!!! neither do I expect him to do it, nor do I expect this line to appear in comments section of your blog.
Nothing will change. BJP becomes brazen because it knows that people will keep voting for it – inspite of massive revolt last year, inspite of unprecedented corruption.
Even if the bloody govt. didn’t interefere in his work, what good would his work be?
The Lokayukta can’t have the corrupt prosecuted without the govt’s authorisation nor can he expect the investigation to be honest and comprehensive.
If you leave it to the BJP, they will get somebody like Pramila Nesargi to be the next Lokayukta!
Will the opposition which is crying blue murder now, gather political consensus and make Lokayukta’s post more powerful and effective?
Worth taking a look at these links on how BJP pushed Justice Hegde to the wall:
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/the-other-justice-hegde/399301/
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/newsmaker-n-santosh-hegde/399304/
@Rastrakoota,
Sir, I was born in a place which is less than 50 kms away from where Rastrakootas ruled for two centuries.
>it appears there is always a lot of sarcasm in your comments! I am just hoping that thats not the real you!
No sarcasam, 1) a different POV, 2) disappointed with middle class self righteous sanctimonious comments. Just see Mahesh’s comments, I dont understand how road widening makes the present govt. corrupt. In every BDA locality, most the residential plots which are on the main roads are converted into commercial buildings. Every 60,80 or 100 feet road is a high street now, the whole Bangalore looks like it belongs to shopkeepers. What was the primary purpose of these plots, I guess it was affordable housing. Can the govt. reacquire these back (whole plots not just part of it), because the primary purpose is not valid anymore.
—–
@Harkol,
Telecom King
Looks like we are pretty much there. I had thought Karnataka during Bangarappa’s times had set such a high mark in corruption that it’s difficult to breach. But..hey! congratulations we have overtaken that and with some help from Bihar (which could’ve been our nearest competitor but then lost its march under Nitish and squandered the chance) we are probably numero uno – some sceptics think Mayavati’s UP or Maharashtra are the rightful winners of this game. Even if we concede this point, let’s not lose hope.still 3 more years to go and we shall be there.
I had an interesting chat with a friend of mine(who is a resident unlike me the migrant to B’lore) in my hometown in karavali. The folks in smaller towns and villages have better experience and understanding of corruption than us city-slickers who live in a cocoon.
He drew an interesting parallel between Karnataka and CPM ruled states like Bengal and Kerala. According to him corruption in Karnataka now is institutionalised and The party runs it efficiently. Unlike the Congress and Janata, BJP is cadre based and the loot is shared across all the levels right from village functionary till district president – be it PWD works, mining and timber licenses, ad-hoc checkposts on the highways for hafta vasool, sarva shiksha abhiyan or any other contracts.
This is where BJP excels as the party with difference. In case of Cong or Janata only some top leaders or at best mid-level leaders and their relatives got all the loot. Now BJP runs it on a cadre basis and thus pretty much every worker gets some share of the booty. This is the true democratic spirit and way to go.
DailyBread:
Spot-on about Mahesh and the likes of him. I won’t be surprised if our Mahesh has eaten into the setback area while building his house on his 30X40 plot! (Not saying that he has done it, I don’t know – but I won’t at all be bloody surprised if he has!)
Vinay/DB:
your comments about Bda sites are not right. The land being acquired are not BDA in most cases. The point goes deeper than how the land allotments and setback rules.
Set back in a plot is not meant for acquisition. It is primarily meant as lung space. Violations of setback can be punished by fines and demolitions.
Acquisition world over, under eminent domain doctrine, are done in a humane way. Good compensation, that’s more than market value is the norm for the inconvinience and damage caused. Everyone who looses as part of such acqusition have a claim to compensation.
In india these never happen. Imagine you being asked to leave your house or livelihood abruptly without any meaningful compensation. What are you supposed to do?
I think road widening needs to be done. But, folks displaced have legitimate grievance.
There are two method of corruption. First, you get the work done and earn/claim your booty. Second, you don’t do anything and channelize all the fund for development work to your personal account. BJP is master in first while JD(S) and Congress is follower of second. Under BJP rule atleast we are seeing some development. Congress and JD were all behind money without any work for normal public. we indian anyway are corrupt. Now to choose between above two option, I would go with BJP style of corruption.
Karnataka has tough competition from AP in the corruption stakes. But the big winner is Bihar, every state is following their model.
I think the right question is “Is Karnataka India’s most corrupt state”? Unfortunately, the “under BJP” phrase takes away the focus entirely. The answer is (with or without that phrase) – (maybe) not yet, but definitely reaching there.
When will media bring corruption back into focus as a serious issue to be contended with?
Harkol,
My comments were about commercialization of BDA plots allotted for residential purpose. People did not buy these plots at market rates; they were subsidized to provide affordable housing to middle class.
>What are you supposed to do?
Pack up and move like some of our ancestors did couple of times within 2-3 generations. And here we are not talking about travelling 100s of miles to settle down, one can buy an apartment in a Mantri, Sobha, Prestige (btw, with proper parking area for cars) or a shop in a mall like Forum. Do you really believe those emotional sob stories from JP Nagar/BTM layout.
DB:
>People did not buy these plots at market rates
Most of them did. The original allottees sold the properties after regulatory period (12year no-sale period). Most folks who own properties in BDA layouts are 2nd or 3rd buyers. Most original owners would’ve sold it and gone.
And it is a incoherent argument you make about residential and commercial. Indian city zonal regulations are fairly clear on this – There are no pure residential area and properties on prominent roads can be (atleast a portion of it) commercial.
This is to avoid huge commute (which may not be a problem for folks with vehicles, but not so for others). That is why BDA originally envisaged BDA complexes in each layout, and also had a model for semi-commercial licenses even in residential layouts.
In fact, BDA auctions plots in BDA layouts, advertising them as commercial plots!
I am not saying people haven’t violated the law and done Commercial buildings without license. But, law provides for a remedy in such cases – Demolition or fines.
But, what of people who continued to have residence?
>Do you really believe those emotional sob stories
It isn’t a sob story. I know an old retired couple in Indiranagr CMH road, whose only asset was a house they built 35 years back. It was acquired for Metro. They had a portion let out, which provided them livelihood.
They are yet to get their promised compensation, living in a rented apartment that they can’t afford as their pension amounts aren’t enough, and the rental income has stopped. And when they do get their compensation, it’ll still be a huge struggle for them.
When it happens to you at your 75th year, and you have to face the music – you’ll know.
In a democracy it is always Yathah Praja tathah Raja
Poor gets bribed and vote for the highest bidder
Middle segment gives and takes bribes to stay in middle class
Rich bribe the whole of society to become richer
Why ask which state is less or more corrupt? It is like asking which egg has less or more hair on it :)
it was coming ,it had to come.
corruption acqiured greater scope and respectibility under present bjp govt in karnataka. it even got religious sanctity and appreciation.
first time in history of independent india a new combination of
cast-corruption clicked to a nicety. situation is getting worse with educated class in karnataka supporting BJP led corruption.
morgan freeman says in the movie SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION —
hope is a good thing and good thing never dies.
i believe in this . karnataka will see achange of governance and good times will return.
The electorate is complicit in this corruption, by voting people based on considerations (caste, creed, religious head’s directive, cheap rice, free tv) other than good governance or by their apathy (how many urban voters actually caste their vote instead of taking advantage of the holiday to go on a vacation).
Harkol,
>When it happens to you at your 75th year,
The day I dont have to work for a living, I will get out of Bangalore. More power to Yeddy’s elbow, govt. is reviving Bidadi project. Otherwise, I am open to moving to Lavasa or to my family ranch in North Karnataka!!.
The problem in my place (North Karnataka) is 46 degrees heat for 11 months of the year and non availability of power for 23 hours of the day. But people tell me that solar/wind power has become as cheap as 1.5 lakhs per KVA to set up. How much power I require to run a 10 tonne AC? Can I claim carbon credits? Can I feed power to the grid and earn some money when I am visiting Bangalore?
***
Rastrakoota Doregale,
Whats your problem with Yeddi? Is there an IOU pending from Karanataka janathe to Qs attorney? Yeddiyavaru nammavaru, what happens in Karnataka should stay in Karnataka.
Daily Bread,
From what Harkol wrote I thot the elderly couple were supplementing their pension income with rent to eke out a living! Certainly not the same as saying they did not have to work to earn a living.
Yeddi is not nammavaru- he has been purchased by the Reddys.
Said Yeddi
I dread the Reddy
At the drop of a hat I cry
At evry meeting I lie.
Gaby,
Reddys are also Nammavaru like Lads, Ghorpades, Tappals, Singhs, etc.
I don’t understand this Reddy, Yeddi fetish. As I keep on saying all politicians, irrespective of the colour /shade of the ideology are capable of generating wealth for themselves. Lets focus on the positives….
Daily Bread- you seem to have a Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam attitude to miner barons. I would be very happy if you could point out a few positives in the matter being discussed- Yeddy and his crocodile tears so that I could focus on them!!!
All parties are corrupted, they are just defending them self by comparing with others and saying i stay behind them. they are least bothered about public concerns. it is necessary for them to understand that they are in to public service not in to business or personal services.
hmmm…56.9% people voted that karanataka has become most corrupted state under bjp governance…but don’t hav alternative..do u think congress and jds coalation will give best?kumaraswamy jds supremo most disgustin politition in india….75% of padmanabanagar belongongs to his family members…do u kno wat was devegowda b4 enterin into politics he was just onion vendor…NOW?let me hav a word abt MR. ibrahim former aviation minister….recently ther is a news that he asked 15crore bribe from well known industrialist RATAN TATA….how sad he is from congress…our transportation is the best in india..it’s because of bjp…they r offerin pension scheme to handicaps even my father is gettin that…our congress neta they don’t hav any decorum… the lang..they r using infront of media is rediculous..
our own central governament is piled with scams…if u see the monetary figure of scam u may get cardiac arrest
A RAJA-175000CRORES
KALMADI-60000CRORES
ASHOKCHAVAN-ADARSHA APPARTMENT(which was built for kargil soldiers)
our own PM is puppet under the hand italian bartender ….wat action they had taken til now for this scams…one thing sure congress is the father of scams…u can’t compare our present PM WITH GREAT ATALJI
IN KARNATAKA IF BJP IS CORRUPT THEN ALSO ITS DEVELOPING THE STATE LIKE GUJRAT