Bengaluru: Former chief minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has become a laughing stock before the people of the state by not taking the right action at the right time against officials and ministers involving in corruption and sex scandals.
Speaking with media persons, Kumaraswamy said Congress had come to power by promising to ensure a corruption-free governance but it has been working quite opposite after assuming office. “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was hesitating to take action against senior government officials Chikkarayappa and Jayachandra even after CBI and ED officials seized crores of rupees during the raids on their residences. The chief minister is aware of Meti’s sex scandal one month ago but not taken any action against him. Finally, Meti was compelled to resign after making futile attempts to cover the sex scandal,’’ Kumaraswamy said.
He has said the rampant corruption in the state has even compelled B S Yeddyurappa, who lost power and respect due to the corruption, to speak about corruption in the state. “Recently Yeddyurappa had claimed that Chief Minister and three to four ministers will have to resign due to the corruption in the state. Yeddyurappa may be having the information on the corrupt activities of the ministers and the chief minister,’’ he said.
The JD(S) leader said the state government has constituted Justice Kempanna Commission to inquire into the denotification of Arkavathy Layout but the C[u1] ommission has not done anything. “If Justice Kempanna Commission is determined to conduct a fair probe, it would have issued notices to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Jagadish Shettar, Yeddyurappa and me. Nineteen acres of land was denotified during my tenure. I expected a notice from Justice Kempanna Commission but nothing happened till date. The seeds of corruption were sown during the BJP regime and the Congress has provided water and fertilizer to it. Does Siddaramaiah require to be in power for three-and-half years for this purpose? I do not know what is in store in the remaining 18 months,’’ he said.
Coming down heavily on Siddaramaiah for not taking action against corrupt officials, he said that S C Jayachandra, chief project officer, State Highway Development Project, had floated tenders inviting bidders for Rs 3,500 crore worth developmental works without availing the Cabinet’s approval. “Jayachandra had collected 10 per cent of the project cost as his commission from the contractors. Are Siddaramaiah and Mahadevappa not aware of this?’’ he asked.
He said Congress and BJP leaders got crores of rupees as kickback from the projects such as steel flyover and Yetthinahole project.
