With two courts giving their ruling in favour of an investigation into the alleged MUDA land allotment scam involving Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his family members, English playwright and poet William Shakespeare’s famous line – ‘Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion’ is reverberating in the public space in Karnataka. If the ruling Congress is defending its chief minister refusing to step down to face a probe, the BJP-JDS are demanding the CM’s resignation on moral grounds.
A mass leader, Siddaramaiah (76), who carved his political path on the socialist ideology, is facing the toughest dilemma of his life. Last August, when the opposition parties launched a ‘Mysore Chalo’ padayatra over the MUDA scam, Siddaramaiah made an emotional speech at a massive rally in Mysuru, his home turf, claiming he had had no blot in his four decades-long political career. But, with the trial court ordering Lokayukta probe into the MUDA scam, where CM’s wife has been allotted 14 residential sites in a prime location in Mysuru as land loser's compensation, and the CM’s refusal to step down has once again triggered a debate on the probity in public life.
If Siddaramaiah sporting an expensive Hublot watch was ridiculed by his own party leaders like MLC B.K Hariprasad, the opposition parties allege that he had weakened the Lokayukta and created an anti-corruption bureau (ACB) to save himself and his corrupt partymen. Incidentally, the Lokayukta report had led the BJP’s first Chief Minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa, step down in 2011.
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Siddaramaiah’s own claims of being “corruption-free” are now under attack as he had undermined the Lokayukta’s authority (by stripping it of its investigative powers) and constituted the ACB in 2016, during his first stint as the chief minister. The move had caused a huge furore as Karnataka Lokayukta, by then, had built a strong reputation as a credible and effective anti-corruption watchdog under Justice N. Venkatachala, who carried out raids and lashed out at corruption in public life in a big way and Justice Santosh Hegde, who had exposed rampant illegal mining in the state and named three chief ministers in his report that eventually changed the political landscape of the state (in 2011).
Then, Siddaramaiah had defended his decision citing a bribery racket that was run by then Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao. “The incident forced us to create a separate wing for investigation of corruption cases. ACB exists in many states including Gujarat,” Siddaramaiah had reasoned.
In August 2022, a two-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, which heard a batch of petitions from social activists, ruled the Siddaramaiah government’s decision to create the ACB as “null and void”. The court, while restoring the investigative powers of the Lokayukta, also mandated the immediate transfer of all pending cases from the ACB to the Lokayukta, which led to the dissolution of the ACB.
The court had observed that the ACB was established by means of an executive order and not a statute and it had “no legs to stand”. The creation of ACB was a “transgression by an executive administrative order to usurp the powers of the Lokayukta".
“The Constitution of ACB itself is shaky and cannot perform the duty of the police as it is controlled by the chief minister. On the other hand, the Karnataka Lokayukta Act has been in force since January 15, 1986 and the ACB was created only to defunct the Lokayukta and, ACB has not registered any criminal case against any minister, MP, MLA, or MLC, since its inception,” the court had noted.
Ironically, Siddaramaiah is today facing a Lokayukta probe in the MUDA case. Complying with the order of the Special Court for People’s Representatives led by Justice Santosh Gajanan Bhat, the Mysuru Lokayukta police has filed an FIR, where Siddaramaiah is the accused no. 1, his wife M.Parvathi A2 and his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy A3.
BJP MLC C.T. Ravi alleged that Siddaramaiah was not a “clean” politician as he claims to be. “There were 65 cases filed against him by the Lokayukta and he had defanged the Lokayukta by creating the ACB to hide the truth about him. He got himself a clean chit in 15 odd cases through ACB and 50 cases are still pending inquiry. Now, he is opposing a CBI investigation in the MUDA case,” mocked Ravi, referring to details accessed by RTI activists.
Kuruba strongman Siddaramaiah, emerged as a mass leader and an undisputed ‘Ahinda’ leader (holding sway over the minorities, dalit and backward classes) after he parted ways with the Janata Dal Secular and JDS patriarch H.D. Devegowda in 2006. His elevation to the chief minister’s post by the Congress party in 2013 has earned him enough adversaries within the party too. However, the man who dons spotless white kurta, ‘panche’ (dhoti) and a silk stole, finds himself fighting a taint that can perhaps be erased only with a clean chit.
The lawyer-turned-politician today finds himself in a legal entangle that has pushed the Congress high command into the big dilemma – of replacing Siddaramaiah and face the backlash from Ahinda voters or face the ignominy of siding with a CM facing corruption charges.
Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said, “Two courts have ruled that there is a need for investigation against the chief minister. Legally, the CM need not step down to face the probe. But my personal opinion is that the chief minister should resign and face the probe as public morality demands it. The Lokayukta is an independent body, but one cannot overlook the fact the investigating officers can't remain independent if the CM continues to hold his post during the investigation.”