Stain on Siddaramaiah

A MULTI-CRORE LAND SCAM in Mysore is the latest in an unending onslaught of charges of gross mismanagement against the Congress government in Karnataka. Coming close on the heels of allega­tions of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation by Congress leaders, the land scam has turned the focus on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a leader with popular appeal and a clean image who has thus far conducted himself honourably. By strategically training its guns on Siddaramaiah at a time when the DK Shivakumar-led faction in Congress has reportedly renewed its demands for a change of guard, the Bharati­ya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping that the government, left without a centre of gravity, will stray ever farther into the darkness. The deputy chief minister, who also holds the post of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, is an ambitious man, and after the party’s poor show across the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the Old Mysuru region, he is looking to redeem himself by winning the upcoming by-election to the Channapatna Assembly seat that was vacated by fellow-Vokkaliga HD Kumaraswamy. His brother DK Suresh’s shocking defeat from the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency at the hands of BJP’s CN Manjunath by a huge margin came as a personal blow to the KPCC chief. Leaders in the Shivakumar camp say, however, that the optics are in his favour now, with Siddaramaiah’s name being dragged through the mud ahead of the state legislature’s monsoon session. “We are on track to win Channapatna. DKS offered to contest it but he doesn’t need to—with Kumaraswamy settling down in Delhi, Vokkaligas know who is really with them on the ground here. We do need to worry about Sandur and Shiggaon, the other constitu­encies going to polls. Disunity within the party can really cost us,” says a senior Congress leader.

Kumaraswamy, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries, has in fact alleged that Shivakumar is the unseen hand behind the revelations in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam. “Why has a scandal that did not come out for so long come out in the open now? Behind the scenes there is the role of a person wanting to claim the chief minister’s chair,” he told the media last week. The state opposition claims the scam runs to the tune of ₹4,000 crore and involves MUDA’s indiscriminate distribution of about 10,000 sites to beneficiaries in lieu of land acquired from them under the ‘50:50 scheme’.

While Siddaramaiah has denied benefiting from the land allotment and claimed that the alleged MUDA irregularities are a legacy of the erstwhile BJP government, RTI activists have pointed out that allotments continued well into 2024 despite a government directive otherwise. The irony of state Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh announcing a probe into the case by senior IAS officers is not lost on anyone. BJP leaders, including state party president BY Vijayendra and opposition leader R Ashoka, have therefore demanded a CBI probe, without any heed to the collateral damage such an investigation may cause their party. In a press conference held in Bengaluru on July 10, Vijayendra claimed that according to land transfer rules of 1991, Siddaramaiah’s wife was only eligible for two plots of land of 4,800 sq ft but demanded 14 such plots in a clear misuse of power. “The land scam has ripped off Siddaramaiah’s mask of honesty,” he said.

The euphoria over the popularity of Congress’ social guarantees seems to be fading. The government recently hiked petrol and diesel prices by about ₹3 each in an effort to collect ₹2,000 crore additional sales tax annually

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Speaking to Open, Vijayendra called the land scam “an open-and-shut case where officers were pressured to misuse old rules for Siddaramaiah’s benefit”. He also pointed out that while BJP was the ruling party in the state at the time of allotment, Siddaramaiah held the constitutional post of opposition leader and that his son was the MLA from Varuna in Mysuru. “The seriousness of the offence is enough to dent Congress’ image and demand the chief minister’s resignation, but even aside from the immediate political fallout, what has become clear is that Siddaramaiah, who claims to be a saviour of the AHINDA classes, has allowed their land to be misused,” Vijayendra said, adding that this is not the first time the Congress government has let the underprivileged down. “The biggest injustice this government has committed is the diversion of ₹24,000 reserved for SC and ST welfare under the Special Component Plan and the Tribal Sub Plan (SCPTSP) towards fulfilling its poll guarantees. We are not against guarantees but stealing from Dalits is not the way to do it,” Vijayendra told Open.

BJP has also alleged that the chief minister, who holds the finance portfolio, personally signed off on the illegal diversion of ₹87 crore from the state-run Valmiki ST Development Corpo­ration to fund Congress’ party expenses ahead of the Assembly elections in Telangana. The alleged scam came to light when an accounts superintendent committed suicide at his residence in Shimoga on May 26, leaving behind a note naming corpora­tion officials and mentioning a “minister”. ST Welfare Minister B Nagendra was forced to resign and the state government consti­tuted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), even as the Anti-Corrup­tion Forum filed a complaint with the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). On July 10 morning, a day after Nagendra and Raichur Rural MLA Basanagouda Daddal—the chairman of the corporation— were questioned by the SIT, ED officials raided Nagendra’s resi­dences in Bengaluru and Ballari. The SIT has arrested 11 people and seized ₹14.5 crore in connection with the case so far.

“Siddaramaiah is a worried man these days,” Vijayendra told Open. “MLAs are pressuring him for funds to carry out develop­ment work in their constituencies. Contractors are fighting for payment. For the first time in the history of the state, the govern­ment is considering selling land banks. Welfare dole payments are pending for months. It seems that the government has been unravelling after the state Congress’ poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections,” he added. The ruling party won just nine seats while the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) got 19. While an improvement over Congress’ tally in 2019, it fell way short of the party’s expectations. A three-member fact-finding commit­tee comprising senior Congress leaders will visit the state this month to analyse what went wrong. Both Siddaramaiah’s and Shivakumar’s supporters have meanwhile been trying to spin the results as a failure of the other leader to capture the votes of his community. Siddaramaiah’s supporters have raised a demand for more deputy chief ministers in an apparent bid to undermine Shivakumar’s significance in government, and Vokkaliga and Lingayat seers have swooped in to ask that the top post be given to leaders from their respective communities.

AT THE SAME TIME, the euphoria over the popularity of Congress’ social guarantees, announced in the run-up to the Assembly polls in 2023, seems to be fading. The government recently hiked petrol and diesel prices by about ₹3 each in an effort to collect ₹2,000 crore additional sales tax annually and is said to be considering the Boston Consulting Group’s recommendation to monetise the government’s assets, including 25,000 acres near Bengaluru. While the guarantees aim to provide a better quality of life to 1.2 crore families and have been shown to have improved Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection and women’s workforce participation, they have eaten into devel­opment expenditure and presented a giant challenge to the state’s finance department. Now, the government’s resolution to utilise over ₹14,000 crore of the SCPTSP fund towards fulfilment of the guarantees this year has met with stiff resistance from the opposi­tion and from Dalit groups who have dubbed it an “injustice” to SCs and STs. The government has set aside a total of ₹27,673 crore under SCP and ₹11,447 crore under TSP this fiscal year.

Shivakumar is looking to redeem himself in the upcoming bypoll for the Channapatna assembly seat vacated by fellow-Vokkaliga HD Kumaraswamy. His brother DK Suresh’s Lok Sabha defeat had come as a personal blow

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Siddaramaiah has clarified that the government will con­tinue to spend 24.1 per cent of its total allocable budget, as re­quired by state law, on SC and ST welfare. With over 1.3 crore SC/ ST beneficiaries under the guarantee schemes, the government will use the funds under SCPTSP to deliver benefits to them, he has said. A source in the finance department told Open that there was no question of diversion of funds from SC/ST welfare. “They are the main beneficiaries of any government scheme. The money that was being spent on various other schemes is now being streamlined and spent on guarantees. We are only taking 37 per cent—the proportionate amount—of the SCPTSP funds,” he said, adding that the government knows politicisation of the issue is unavoidable.

To be sure, the Karnataka opposition is sharper than ever, missing no chance to snub the government—from accusing it of diverting public funds to attacking it on its ineffective manage­ment of dengue in Karnataka. Congress’ biggest challenge now is to restore its credibility, which has taken hit after hit from the multiple charges of graft that have come to light. Ironically, it was only a year ago that it had swept the Assembly polls on an anti-corruption plank. From a party full of vigour and possibil­ity upon assuming power, it has sustained a big fall which has nothing to do with elections and everything to do with how it has governed the state. The imminent session of the state legislature may well be a turning point for the government and a platform to gauge how it reacts to the accusations. After all, monsoon is the season for carefully stemming the rot.

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