India’s most corrupt state? No prizes for guessing

B.S. Yediyurappa is gone as the chief minister of Karnataka, but B.S. Yediyurappa is still here as the power behind the new chief minister of Karnataka. The Reddy brothers, who were indicted by the Lok Ayukta, are out of the new ministry, but V. Somanna, who was indicted by the same Lok Ayukta, is in.

Like a wind-up doll, Yediyurappa makes much of his “development agenda” and the BJP, which is now mortally scared of his hold over Lingayats and his support among MLAs, thinks the problem is over if you can deftly bury your head in the sand (or the Bellary ore).

This snapshot of a CSDS survey makes nonsense of such claims.

Respondents in the State were asked which government was most corrupt: the one in Delhi, the one in Bangalore, or the one in their city. The answer is unambiguously clear: the State government of B.S. Yediyurappa. Worse, that number is the highest for all the 11 States which were part of the CSDS survey.

Overall, a total of 39,000 respondents in 1,300 locations in 325 assembly constitutencies were polled for the survey. The fieldwork was done between between July 25 and 31, 2011, ie before Yediyurappa remitted office before being allowed to act as the puppeteer behind the throne.

View the full survey here: State of the Nation

Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: India’s most corrupt State?

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