Politicians Gearing Up To Close Down Anti-Corruption Ombudsman In Karnataka
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    • Politicians gearing up to close down anti-corruption Ombudsman in Karnataka

    Even as the BJP”s topmost stalwart and Prime Ministerial candidate and octogenarian leader K Advani who has taken up a nationwide crusade against corruption by travelling throughout the country, there seems to be a covert but systematic and grandiose plan by the vested interests in the BJP ruled Karnataka to close down the Lokayukta, the anti-corruption ombudsman in the state.
    An exclusive telephonic interview published in Kannada Prabha, a leading Kannada daily, quoting K. Madhukar Shetty of the 1999 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS) (who worked as Superintendent of Police in Lokayukta for over two years), that the setup was steeped in corruption and he felt relieved to leave it, has virtually stirred the hornets nest in Karnataka Politics. Shetty, son of Late Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty ( who has served as chief reporter of Prajavani and Deccan Herald in the 1980′s) had told the newspaper in his telephonic interview from United States where he has gone on a two year study leave.,that ” I had not seen so many corrupt people in Lokayukta, they are more dangerous than the corrupt” the lokayukta catches.
    Kannada Prabha is owned by Dr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the JD(S) Member of Rajyasabha and a Media Baron who also owns Suvarna 24×7 Kannada Channel and Asia Net TV channels. Visveswara Bhat is the Editor in Chief of both Suvarna News 24×7 and Kannada Prabha.

    “Close down Lokayukta”

    Cashing in on the opportunity to go hammer and tongs on the Lokayukta which has sent several high and mighty BJP policians and Ministers including B S Yeddyurappa to jail, the state BJP president K S Eswarappa, who is already spitting fire on both the Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bharadwaj and the Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, has said, “”Madhukar Shetty’s revelations show that Lokayukta has become an institution of thieves set up to catch thieves”.

    In a terse and cryptic reaction, Former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has said that the “BJP leaders are running a systemaic and orgainsed campaign to malign and defame the Lokayukta with an agenda to close it down. Eswarappa’s statement confirms my worst fears”.

    Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda’s son and Former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy used Shetty’s allegations to fire shots at former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, who is with Team Anna campaigning for a strong Jan Lokpal bill.
    “Santosh Hegde has no moral right to talk about corruption when he failed to check it in Lokayukta,”Kumaraswamy said.

    Congress, the main opposition party in Karnataka headed by Dr G Parameshwar which was regularly criticising Hegde in the past (before he gave a report on illegal mining in karnatka indicting B S Yeddyurappa), threatened to launch agitation if there were attempts to wind up the Lokayutka or even curtail its powers.

    “We will not allow it. There is no question of winding up or even reduction in Lokayukta powers. We will launch an agitation if any attempt is made by the BJP government,” he told reporters.However, the Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda has assured that the Lokayukta will not be wound up.

    In another link to this developing story,Deve Gowda, JHD (S) MP, who is upset over the Lokayukta raid on his eldest son and a former Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) official H.D. Balakrishna Gowda, who has been accused of amassing assets worth Rs.500 crore when he was in service, is caught in a row over his alleged threat to another senior police officer of the Lokayukta’.“I welcome the statement (of BJP Sstate President K S Eswarappa)and will raise the issue in parliament,” Gowda told reporters in Mysore.

    On Nov 7, Deve Gowda had telephoned Jeevan Kumar Gaonkar, Additional Director General of Police (Lokayukta) and told him he was acting like a “slave” of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who quit on July 31 after Santosh Hegde sought his trial for corruption in an illegal mining scam.

    Gaonkar was supervising investigation into cases against Yeddyurappa and also Deve Gowda’s eldest son H.D. Balakrishna Gowda. Gaonkar, has alleged that Gowda also warned him that he was mistaken if he thought that Yeddyurappa would save him. Gaonkar gave these details in a letter to the government. He was transferred out of the Lokayukta Nov 10.

    Meanwhile every one surprised why Madhukar Shetty, who was all powerful as Superintendent of Police Lokayukta Institution did not bring the to the notice of Satosh Hegde, the corruption inside the anti-corruption Ombudsman. Shetty was hitting headlines whenever a raid is conducted and earned the fame, might now be trying to get back in to the media in India and make name before he returns to the country from United States. Is Sheety a Publicity Crazy Policeman, asks the common man and wants to know why he kept mum and did not initiate action when there were reports that money was flowing into the hands of the Lokayukta Superintendent of Police office in Bangalore from the Sub-Registrar’s office from all over the state.

    What is the hidden agenda behind this telephonic interview, people ask.

    pics: Inernet
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