During its campaign for the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the Congress focused on the alleged corruption of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and on claims that contractors had to shell out a “40% commission” for all government works. This catapulted the party to power.
Two years later, ironically, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress regime is facing the same stigma of corruption. The party is struggling to fend off charges not from contractors but its own party legislators, much to the glee of the two Opposition parties — the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular).
An audio clip, allegedly featuring a conversation between B.R. Patil, a senior Congress MLA and State Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, and Sarfaraz Khan, a close associate of the Housing Minister, B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, has put the Congress government on the back foot.
In the clip, Mr. Patil is heard alleging that houses were allotted under the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Ltd. in exchange for bribes, which had embarrassed the Chief Minister. Mr. Siddaramaiah is himself facing allegations of corruption in connection with the illegal allotment of 14 sites (now surrendered) by the Mysore Urban Development Authority to his wife Parvathi. The Congress had to earlier deal with a scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, which led to the resignation of Minister B. Nagendra.
As loyalists of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appear to have taken a break from dissident activities, which included the demand that Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar be removed from the multiple posts he holds, it seems to be the turn of senior party legislators to voice discontent over the alleged corruption and administrative inaction.
Even before the Opposition could intensify its call for the resignation of Mr. Zameer Ahmed Khan, who is one of the Chief Minister’s key loyalists, Congress MLAs Raju Kage and Belur Gopalkrishna expressed outrage over the alleged corruption in the allotment of houses to eligible beneficiaries, and sought the Minister’s resignation. Mr. Kage said that the State administration had collapsed.
The alleged housing scam has provided more fodder to the BJP and JD(S). The Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, R. Ashok, accused the government of collecting ₹25 crore from each Minister for meeting the party’s expenses in the upcoming elections in Bihar. JD(S) leader and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy claimed that whenever a legislator wishes to implement a scheme in their constituency, they have to make a “payment”.
Similar complaints had emerged earlier. Yelburga MLA and the Chief Minister’s Economic Adviser, Basavaraj Rayareddy, had claimed that Karnataka is “number one in corruption”. Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had candidly acknowledged helplessness in curbing corruption at the lower levels in his department.
Raids by officials of the Karnataka Lokayukta across the State have added heft to the corruption charges. Recently, Home Minister G. Parameshwara and former MP D.K. Suresh, who is Mr. Shivakumar’s brother, came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While ED sleuths raided institutions linked to Mr. Parameshwara in connection with actor Ranya Rao’s gold smuggling case, they questioned Mr. Suresh in a money laundering case against city-based businesswoman Aishwarya Gowda.
Unlike his first term (2013-18), Mr. Siddaramaiah has apparently been denied a free hand to take decisions. Several factors are affecting the quality of governance and feeding the alleged corruption — the inept handling of administrative duties owing to factionalism within the party, the existence of multiple centres of power (Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and the party high command), and the compulsions of implementing the Congress’s five guarantees.
Already under fire from the Opposition for “halting” developmental work, the government is now facing growing criticism from its ranks for denying funds. Public cynicism that corruption has become “normal” in State politics, irrespective of the party in power, is also growing. If deep-rooted corruption goes unchecked, it will retard the growth of the State and cause more suffering among socially and economically disadvantaged communities.
Published – June 26, 2025 12:15 am IST