By V.S. Karnic, IANS,
Bangalore : Two former chief ministers, four former ministers, one minister, one Lok Sabha member and three legislators in Karnataka have nothing much to celebrate Diwali for next week.
For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), this may well be its darkest period, at least in Karnataka, as nine of these 11 politicos belong to it, with the party’s first chief minister in southern India B.S. Yeddyurappa leading the pack.
Yeddyurappa, who quit office July 31 after the Lokayukta (ombudsman) indicted him in an illegal mining scam, has his BJP Lok Sabha member-son B.Y. Raghavendra for company in the five cases of illegal land denotification in return for monetary gain.
(Another son B.Y. Vijayendra and son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar are also accused in the five cases but they are not in politics. All three are out on bail.)
The two non-BJP leaders in this not-so-honourable roll call is Yeddyurappa’s predecessor, H.D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal-Secular, and his legislator-wife Anita Kumaraswamy.
All 11 except one are battling charges of corruption or illegal actions.
Besides Yeddyurappa, the other name that has become pretty familiar across India, and several countries as well perhaps, for corruption and illegal dealings is that of mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy.
Yeddyurappa is not sure whether he will be in jail or out on bail when Diwali is celebrated Oct 26.
Reddy, however, will have his Diwali in Hyderabad’s Chanchalaguda jail where he has been lodged since Sep 5 for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh. His custody has been extended till Oct 31 by a Hyderabad court.
The other former BJP minister in custody is Katta Subramanya Naidu. Though sent to jail Aug 8 for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.85 crore to allot land to a software firm in Bangalore outskirts, he has been in hospital for most of the time as he is suffering from cancer.
However, his son Katta Jagadish Naidu, a BJP Bangalore corporator, who is also accused in the case, has been spending time behind bars at Bangalore’s central prison in the eastern suburb of Parappana Agrahara.
Yeddyurappa too was sent there Oct 15 till Oct 22 in two of the five cases of illegal land denotification. He spent only a few hours in jail and was admitted to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Research early Sunday after he complained of chest pain.
Also arrested in the two cases is S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty, who was the Muzrai (Endowment) minister in the Yeddyurappa cabinet. He too has sought bail from the high court.
Hemachandra Sagar is the third BJP legislator entangled in the two cases. He is out on bail.
Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita are busy attending court for regular bail as they have got only anticipatory bail.
Kumaraswamy has been charged with making money by illegally granting mining licence and acquiring a huge residential plot in Bangalore in wife Anita’s name by favouring a housing society in land allotment.
The other former BJP minister out on bail is Haratalu Halappa. He was forced to quit the Yeddyurappa ministry in May last year after he was accused by his friend’s wife of raping her in Shimoga, about 280 km from Bangalore.
Y. Sampangi, also of the BJP, was caught in January 2009 taking a bribe of Rs.500,000 to settle a criminal case from a resident in his constituency, Kolar Gold Fields, about 80 km from here. He is out on bail.
The sword is hanging over Forest Minister C.P. Yogeshwar, a loyalist of Yeddyurappa. He has been accused of cheating scores of people by promising house sites on Bangalore’s outskirts in the Mega City project he floated 15 years ago.
The central corporate affairs ministry’s Serious Fraud Investigation Office and also the state Crime Investigation Department have completed their probe into Yogeshwar’s affairs. He may be forced out soon, though he has denied the charges.
Yeddyurappa and the BJP made history when they captured power in Karnataka for the first time after the May 2008 assembly elections. He became the party’s first chief minister in southern India May 30, 2008.
In less than four years, he has gone down in history as the first former Karnataka chief minister to be jailed, just 11 days before Diwali.
(V.S. Karnic can be contacted at [email protected])