The latest corruption scandal to hit the BJP government in Karnataka is the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam. After initially denying any malpractice, the government ordered a CID probe. The CID found that those paying ₹25 lakh to ₹80 lakh were able to secure top ranks. The discovery of such malpractices forced the government to cancel the selection list for 545 PSIs and order a re-exam.
While the BJP has tried to brazen it out, it has not been able to shake off the stain of the scam on its image easily, especially since this comes close on the heels of the resignation of senior Minister K. S. Eshwarappa following the death of a contractor who had accused him of corruption.
There have been allegations against BJP leaders, including a Minister, in the PSI recruitment scam too. One of the kingpins of the scam is Divya Hagaragi, a BJP leader who runs a school in Afzalpur, an exam centre for PSI exams that has now turned out to be a hub of malpractices. Two block-level Congress leaders from Afzalpur — Mahantesh Patil and Rudragouda Patil — have also been found to have colluded with Ms. Hagaragi and arrested.
The Opposition Congress has been alleging the involvement of Higher Education Minister Dr. C. N. Ashwath Narayan’s brother in the scam. It has also accused the Minister of influencing the probe, a charge that has been vehemently denied by the government and CID. However, the Congress has continued to target him, demanding his resignation and a judicial probe into the scandal, arguing that the CID probe was “neither independent nor credible”. JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy recently alleged he had evidence on the “real kingpin”, a “future leader of the State.” He said the State government would fall if his name was revealed.
Voices within the ruling party are not helping the BJP either. Disgruntled legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who had accused B.S. Yediyurappa’s family of corruption when Mr. Yediyurappa was Chief Minister, recently said there were Ministers in the Cabinet who had paid to become Ministers. “I was offered the Chief Minister’s post for ₹2,500 crore and a Minister’s post for ₹100 crore,” he alleged. BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel has said Mr. Yatnal would be served a show-cause notice. But this is not the first time Mr. Yatnal has made allegations of graft in the BJP government, and earlier notices have not had any effect.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had himself come under a cloud over the alleged bitcoin scam where bitcoins worth thousands of crores were allegedly stolen from a hacker in police custody, shortly after Mr. Bommai took charge. However, the government did not relent to Opposition demands and order a probe into the allegations. Meanwhile, Mr. Bommai has not been able to bring a thaw in the frosty relationship between his government and the contractors of the State who are all set to launch an agitation against “massive corruption” in government contracts. In an attempt to improve the image of his government, Mr. Bommai has been trying to spruce up the administration with an overhaul of the top bureaucracy.
The Congress has been aggressively pursuing allegations of graft against the BJP government. It is keen to shift the public narrative away from communal polarisation, while the saffron party wants to pursue it and ensure that the “anti-Hindu” image sticks on the Congress. The BJP has responded by attacking State Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar, who has cases of disproportionate assets, money laundering and benami properties against him. With no perceptible difference between various political players on the issue of corruption, it remains to be seen if this will become a key issue in the 2023 Assembly polls.
adhitya.bharadwaj@thehindu.co.in
