BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s close confidant and former IPS officer Kempaiah came under attack from the Opposition BJP during a debate on the deteriorating law and order in the state.
Initiating a debate in the Assembly on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar said Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy and the department have become irrelevant as everything in the department is controlled by the former IPS officer.
“He is like a super CM who controls everything in the Home Department,” Shettar said. “Honest officers don’t have freedom to work and transfers have become a business. That is the reason for all the maladies in the department,” Shettar said.
Kempaiah is the adviser to the Home Minister. In last four-and-a-half years, the state has had three Home Ministers — K J George, G Parameshwara and Ramalinga Reddy. “None of them had any clue about what was happening in the department,” Shettar said. He said there is an atmosphere of fear in the state. The situation is so bad that the PM was compelled to make the “ease of doing murders” remark (while addressing a BJP rally in the city). “Bengaluru, that was once known as Garden City, has now become garbage city, crime city, rape city, murder city...,” he said.
Shettar’s remarks drew strong reaction from Industries Minister RV Deshpande, who said such comments would send a wrong message to investors. Deshpande said Bengaluru tops the list in the country in attracting investments and if such remarks are made by the Leader of the Opposition it will have a negative impact on investments. Responding to BJP’s charges, Ramalinga Reddy said he was in full control of the department.
Why is BJP batting for rowdy-sheeters: CM
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday asked BJP legislators why they were batting for rowdy-sheeters. Responding to the BJP legislators’ allegations that the party workers are harassed by the government and police by adding their names to the list of rowdy-sheeters, the CM said the BJP members are talking as if all rowdies are innocent.
“Why are you batting for rowdy-sheeters?,” he asked them. He assured the BJP members that they would look into their concerns of innocent people being added to the list and take out such names from the list. Earlier taking part in the debate, BJP’s Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said many members of pro-Hindu organizations and people who took part in protests were harassed by adding their names to the rowdy-sheeters’ list. Kagaeri, CT Ravi, and other members from BJP demanded the government to make the list public. CM said they would look into the demand.
Who is Kempaiah?
Kempaiah — a 1981-batch IPS officer — is known for his close proximity to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who appointed him as an adviser to the Home Minister. He had worked in the CM’s hometown of Mysuru as Police Commissioner and also as Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bengaluru. Kempaiah led the team of officers from Karnataka who arrested the prime accused in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
He had also worked in the Special Task Force (STF) that was constituted to nab forest brigand Veerappan. In 2007, he was raided by the Lokayukta and a chargesheet was stayed by the court. He took VRS in September 2009 while he was serving as ADGP (Internal Security). A Kannada movie — Kempaiah IPS — was made in 1993.