BENGALURU: Former CM S Bangarappa was forced to quit, and his successor Veerappa Moily “was in chains from the start,” according to a former bureaucrat’s just-released memoir.
N Vishwanathan’s book - refrains from naming anyone though. If it did, he says, discussions would centre on individuals and not the problem. But going by the timeline—the 1990s—it is safe to conclude he is talking about Bangarappa and Moily in the chapter ‘The Absolute Power’. Vishwanathan served as secretary to CM Bangarappa from 1990-1992. He was made to resign, and his immediate successor (Moily), though full of “good intentions,” was “continuously discouraged and misguided by (a) powerful section of the senior bureaucracy....”
The retired principal secretary describes this senior bureaucracy as “adept in intellectual indifference and dishonesty, (enjoying) direct contacts with a similar coterie in the Centre.” Bangarappa’s resignation was preceded by acrimony. He was caught in the Classik computer purchase scam—the government paid an exorbitant amount to buy computers from an unknown company—and blamed for Cauvery riots.
Socialist at Baba’s feet: Former CM J H Patel fell at Sai Baba’s feet crying, after he handed over land for the Sathya Sai Baba Super Specialty Hospital in Whitefield. He was overwhelmed when Baba stood up to receive the government order for the transfer of land. The Service describes a state administration in awe of the spiritual leader, with the CM and Vishwanathan (then principal secretary) having a friendly tussle over who would hand over the order to Sai Baba, and even taking a helicopter to rush the order to his ashram. For their part, the bureaucrats accompanying the CM were seated on the floor and were “left speechless,” he writes.
The book does not name any minister or bureaucrat, but judging by the timeline, Patel was the CM and Siddaramaiah the finance minister.
Baba’s trust was not charged a single rupee for the 50 acres, developed by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board for promoting exports, the bureaucrat writes. Instead, the government paid KIADB ` 18 crore, in 1995, for the land and its development.
When the proposal to buy land for the trust was made, the CM was worried that Siddaramaiah, then DyCM, might pose uncomfortable questions. He was a known “non-conformist” and a “non-believer,” the books says. But Siddaramaiah did not create any hurdles.