Soon after five of the Padarayanapura riot accused housed in Ramanagaram district jail reported COVID-19 positive, the State government on Friday came under scathing attack from the Opposition for the fiasco that has embarrassed it even as senior Ministers in B.S. Yediyurappa’s Cabinet were left to defend the government’s decision.
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On Friday afternoon, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy stated that it was not appropriate to politicise the matter, and urged the government to set right the mistake that it had committed. “ The government is playing around. The government has committed a mistake,” he said, and added that the decision had no rationale. “I had warned the government before,” he told reporters outside the Ramanagaram jail on Bengaluru–Mysuru highway.
In a statement, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s wife and Ramanagaram legislator Anitha Kumaraswamy also slammed the government for the fiasco.
While government sources indicated that the initial decision to move the accused to Ramanagaram jail was an administrative decision, the issue assumed political colour when Mr. Kumaraswamy, expressing fears of contamination, had opposed the decision, blaming Director-General of Police (Prisons) Alok Mohan for it. Deputy Chief Minister and Ramanagaram district in charge C.N. Ashwath Narayan’s opposition for testing COVID-19 in ESI hospital at Malleswaram, but allowing Ramanagaram to have the Padarayanapura riot accused also came under attack.
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However, by late Thursday evening when it became clear that two of the inmates had contracted the virus, Mr. Kumaraswamy threatened to launch an agitation to get the inmates from Ramanagaram jail vacated.
In Bengaluru, Congress MP D.K. Suresh also blamed the government for the situation. Stating that the government would be held responsible if the virus spreads in Ramanagaram district, Mr. Suresh asked how these people were brought in without conducting tests on them. “ Though we appealed to the Home Minister, our requests were not heeded to,” he added.
KPCC president-designate D.K. Shivakumar said the BJP was targeting Ramanagaram since the party failed to win in the district.
Sources in the government, however, defended the decision to shift the accused to Ramanagaram jail as one of “administrative” and not political, and in the larger good of prison inmates in the State. Even Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday defended the move and said it was as per the Supreme Court order.
Dr. Ashwath Narayan, defending the decision, said there was no agenda in lodging the Padarayanapura riot accused in Ramanagaram, and that it was a logistical convenience. “It was not possible to keep them at Parappana Agrahara [Bengaluru Central Prison] where there are over 5,000 inmates. Where else could we have held them?”
He acknowledged that Mr. Kumaraswamy had raised the fears with both the Chief Minister and the Home Minister.
When asked why Ramanagaram, a green zone, was chosen for the purpose, sources said that since it was jail, the threat of contamination was limited. “The decision was taken by the State-level monitoring committee headed by Mr. Mohan after due deliberations,” sources said.