The Congress government in Karnataka is embroiled in a controversy over sting operations, diverting attention from drought and agrarian distress caused by a 32 percent deficit in south-west monsoon rainfall, with several farmers dying by suicide amid major crop losses.
Last week, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar cautioned his Cabinet colleagues about sting operations allegedly planned to target them, destabilise the government and tarnish the party’s image. Claiming to know those behind the operations, Shivakumar hinted at the opposition, triggering political mudslinging, with Union minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and state BJP president B Y Vijayendra demanding a CBI probe or a formal police case.
After being targeted by allegedly fake social media campaigns, former CM Siddaramaiah lodged a complaint with the Bengaluru police commissioner and secured a court order restricting the video’s circulation. Two JD(S) social media workers were detained by the Central Crime Branch for questioning, while Kumaraswamy staged a dharna outside the police commissioner’s office on Thursday, alleging failure to nab the real kingpin.
This political drama unfolded even as 226 of the state’s 240 taluks remained drought-hit, crop losses were estimated at over ₹46,324 crore this year, and farmer suicides over the past three years totalled 2,809. Independent assessments have repeatedly linked rainfall deficits to farm distress deaths.
Yet, the priority accorded to sting operations at a Cabinet meeting at such a juncture exposes the skewed priorities of the Shivakumar-led government, which aims to retain power in the 2028 Assembly polls with a larger majority. The state government announced an input subsidy of ₹2,500, which farmers’ groups have termed inadequate. Visits to drought-hit taluks by ministers, MLAs and officials remain conspicuously absent, while the government’s focus remains on protecting the party’s image.
Both the ruling dispensation and the opposition would do well to heed Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief B K Hariprasad’s comment: “If we indulge in such mudslinging… everyone is in it. As they say in Hindi, ‘Hamam mein sab nange hain’ (Everyone is naked in the bathhouse). It is not a good development in politics.” For the sake of lakhs of distressed farming families, Karnataka’s political class must turn its attention to the crisis that demands it most.