By IANS,
Bangalore : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani arrives in Karnataka Sunday as part of his anti-corruption tour, ignoring taunts that it is a ludicrous show when his party’s government in the state is steeped in corruption.
Advani has to thank the judiciary for helping him brave the scandals in the state as the party’s first chief minister in Karnataka B.S. Yeddyurappa will remain in jail when the yatra (road show) veteran lands in Bangalore Sunday evening to address a public meeting.
For that matter, it is not just Advani and BJP but a number of political parties in the country who have a lot to thank the judiciary.
The increasing judicial scrutiny of actions of those in power has come as a saving grace for several political parties after they failed to rein in their leaders/members from indulging in corruption and illegal activities.
Yeddyurappa, arrested Oct 15 in two corruption and illegal land deals cases, has been fighting in the high court to be released on bail.
With arguments against granting the bail remaining incomplete, the high court has adjourned the hearing to Oct 31, when Advani will be taking his Jan Chetna Yatra in the coastal districts of Karnataka, more than 300 km away from Bangalore.
The way corruption and land grab cases are being filed against BJP ministers in the state has led to wry comments that it is no longer who are in jail or on bail or under police scanner but who is next to be hauled up.
The state Home Minister R. Ashoka, himself is being probed by police now for land grab.
Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani Saturday became the second minister to come under police scrutiny on similar charges.
Names of at least two more BJP ministers have been making the rounds in political circles as the next in the line to join the ranks of ministers-under-probe in Karnataka.
Besides Yeddyurappa, three others who were members of his cabinet are behind bars.
Mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy is in Hyderabad jail for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh, S.N. Krishnaiah Shetty is marking time in Bangalore jail along with Yeddyurappa while Katta Subramanya Naidu is being treated for cancer in Mumbai’s Leelavati hospital. Otherwise he too would have been giving company to Yeddyurappa.
Another BJP legislator Y. Sampangi had his bail cancelled Friday for threatening witnesses in a corruption case against him.
Haratalu Halappa, who was a member of the Yeddyurappa ministry, quit over a year ago after he was accused of raping his friend’s wife. He is also on bail now.
Advani has chosen not to allow scandals of his party in Karnataka and come visiting to campaign against corruption as cancelling the tour in the state would have meant giving in to opposition taunts.
It would also have further demoralized the faction-ridden Karnataka unit of the party.
Despite denials, it is common knowledge in the state that the BJP has several factions — Yeddyurappa-loyalists, pro-Ananth Kumar group (H.N. Ananth Kumar is BJP general secretary and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member), new comers and old-timers with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh background.
Advani sticking to Bangalore plan will be a morale booster to the anti-Yeddyurappa faction as it hopes the senior leader’s visit sends out a message that the party is not dependent on one leader for its electoral success. Yeddyurappa is largely credited with bringing BJP to power in the May 2008 assembly polls.
The BJP veteran’s Bangalore public meeting Sunday evening may not raise much hope in the people of Karnataka that the party government will curb corruption.
It may only heighten the factional rivalry in the state unit, unless the judiciary finds Yeddyurappa and others facing cases guilty and punishes them.