In one of his first rallies in the State, Prime Minister Narendra Modi famously called the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government a “10% commission sarkar”, pitching corruption as one of the major planks of the BJP’s campaign in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. In response, the incumbent Chief Minister questioned the moral right of the BJP to raise this issue considering that many candidates – including its chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa – are not beyond question on this count.
Though allegations have been flying fast and furious between the two parties, corruption has been rendered a non-issue in this election as there seems to be no difference between the BJP and Congress. This is a far cry from the 2013 campaign when the Congress pitted Mr. Siddaramaiah’s clean image against Mr. Yeddyurappa, who had to resign in 2011 as his position as Chief Minister became untenable after he was named in an illegal mining scam.
In his initial days as Chief Minister, Mr. Siddaramaiah was so conscious of his image that he refused to take on several senior leaders as Ministers in his Cabinet as they were “tainted.” A year on, every leader that had been kept out were made Ministers.
It’s been downhill since then, said anti-corruption crusader S.R. Hiremath. “Siddaramaiah’s tenure as Chief Minister is a big betrayal of the trust of the people. He not only failed to implement the Lokayukta report on illegal mining, but has welcomed many of the accused into his party today and given them tickets. He also weakened the Lokayukta institution, damaging anti-corruption struggles in the State,” he said.
However, while Mr. Siddaramaiah was unable to live up to his “clean image” (he was accused of accepting a ₹80 lakh luxury watch and denotifying 900 acres of land), the BJP’s campaign against him and several of his ministerial colleagues have failed to stick with no substantial proof. Mr. Yeddyurappa’s two corruption exposes against Ministers D.K. Shivakumar and M.B. Patil during the campaign fizzled out, putting a question mark over his ability to lead an anti-corruption campaign.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yeddyurappa today has no corruption case pending against him. All the FIRs against him have either been quashed or stayed by the Karnataka High Court. However, appeals against these decisions are pending before the Supreme Court and any adverse decision there would lead to 20 cases of corruption being reopened.
“Yeddyurappa stood trial in only one case till date and he was acquitted by the CBI court. But the rest of the FIRs stayed or quashed by the High Court were decisions made on purely technical grounds and not based on the merits or demerits of the cases. Two petitions are pending in the Supreme Court to reopen all these cases,” said advocate and activist K.N. Balaraj.
Sources say it was the BJP high command led by Amit Shah that chose corruption as a poll plank for the election. Mr. Yeddyurappa was not comfortable with this as he foresaw the embarrassment he would face.
JD(S) chief ministerial candidate H.D. Kumaraswamy, too, suffers from the same problem of lack of credibility when it comes to corruption. He has seven corruption cases pending against him.
Illegal mining, which toppled the BJP from power in 2013, no longer appears to be a contentious issue. Even G. Janardhan Reddy, the kingpin of the “Republic of Bellary” is back in action and campaigning for the party.
Siddaramaiah too has welcomed B.S. Anand Singh and B. Nagendra, former close aides of Mr. Reddy and accused of illegal mining into the party and given them tickets. The Congress is also fielding Anil Lad, Santosh Lad and Satish Sail, also accused of illegal mining.
Mr. Hiremath points out that all the parties have created “such a suffocating environment of corruption that they have left voters with no real choice on this front.”
