Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s position to continue in office has become untenable following Tuesday’s High Court order clearing the decks for his prosecution under the anti-corruption law. Siddaramaiah had challenged the order of the Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot allowing his prosecution in the Mysuru land scam. The CM had pleaded innocence, asserting that he would not resign. His challenge against the Governor’s sanction for his prosecution in the High Court had bought him time. But now that the HC too has paved the way for prosecution, it is in the fitness things that he should demit office immediately. And until honorably acquitted, make no effort to reclaim the office of the chief minister. The High Court Justice M Nagaprasanna in his 197-page judgement categorically stated that no fault could be found in the Governor’s action in giving sanction for his prosecution. The judge rejected the charge that the Governor did not independently apply his mind while considering the plea to sanction his prosecution. In fact, a day after the Karnataka High Court rejected the challenge against prosecution, a Special Court of the Peoples’ Representatives directed the State Lokayukta to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within three months into the land scam charges. The charges pertain to the allotment of 14 plum plots of land by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority in lieu of the 3.16 acres of land held in the name of Siddaramaiah’s wife in a village on the outskirts of the town. Siddaramaiah claims that the said land was gifted to his wife by her brother, though a few villagers have complained, alleging that they were deceived out of it. The judgment noted that the facts narrated in the petition seeking the CM’s prosecution undoubtedly required an investigation. In the teeth of the fact that the beneficiary of all these acts is not anybody outside, but Siddaramaiah’s wife who was allotted 14 plots, investigation was called for. The court did not accept the plea that the chief minister had no role in the allotment of the prime land to his wife. Despite Siddaramaiah’s protestations of innocence, and his refusal to step down till he is cleared by the courts, the demand for his resignation is only bound to get strident. Going by precedents in all such cases, his continuance may have become highly untenable, especially when the investigation into the corruption charges against him and close family members is to be conducted by the State police. Indeed, the public-spirited citizens who took the lead in pursuing the land scam case have now indicated that their next step would be to seek the transfer of the investigation to the CBI. By continuing to stick to the chief ministerial post Siddaramaiah will only further lend weight to the demand for the transfer of the MUDA scam to the central investigative agency. Even though the Congress high command is expected to intervene in the matter, but given its currently emasculated state it is unlikely that Siddaramaiah will feel obliged to heed its advice. Anyway, the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s own son, Priyank, who is IT/BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister in Karnataka, stands accused of a land scam of his own. He is alleged to have got himself allotted a five-acre plot of land meant for civic amenities near Bengaluru in the name of a family-owned trust. Therefore, it is hard to expect the senior Kharge as the Congress president to recommend a course of action which is in consonance with the constitutional propriety and norms of holding the chief minister’s office. Besides, the alternative in view to replace Siddaramaiah may inspire little confidence. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is embroiled in several scams of his own. He is now running from pillar to post to get relief in corruption charges. Shiv Kumar had made a strong bid for chief ministership after the Congress Party surprisingly won a handsome victory in last year’s Assembly poll. He is now in no position to stake claim for Siddaramiah’s post given his extreme vulnerability to corruption charges. In short, Siddaramiah can be expected to brazen it out, unless, of course, the courts come to the rescue of the aggrieved citizens fighting bravely to uphold basic moral and legal principles expected of a chief minster, any chief minister.
Big Setback For Siddaramaiah; HC Dismisses Karnataka CM’s Petition Against Governor Action In MUDA Scam
Meanwhile, the AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, true to type, continues to thumb his nose at the people in the national capital, pretending to wage a fake moral crusade against corruption by anointing Atishi Marlena in his place as Delhi chief minister. Relying on the gullibility of ordinary voters, he plays the victim card. The fact is that his continuance as chief minister had become wholly untenable after the apex court, while granting bail, had prescribed stringent conditions against his entering the CM’s office or signing any files. It is to be noted that the same court had prescribed no such conditions while granting bail to Hemant Soren who after his release went on to duly reclaim the chief minister’s office in Jharkhand. Kejriwal, on the other hand, shredded political morality into pieces, sticking to chief minister’s kursi even while he was in jail. But makes a great moral charade of resigning after being released on bail, The stringent conditions of his release from prison had made his continuance in office wholly untenable. Soren, it should be noted, had resigned the moment he was arrested. But then Soren is not good at doing “nautanki”, something only the AAP boss excels at. Pulling wool over people’s eyes can no longer get Kejriwal far in his quest for high political office. The former assistant Income Tax Commissioner should not always assess people to be dumb, easily fooled by pretend crusaders. They have seen through him. Period.
MUDA Scam Case: ‘Not Afraid, Will Fight This Legally,’ Says CM Siddaramaiah After Bengaluru Court Directs Karnataka Lokyukta To Investigate Him