In Karnataka, three issues have been grabbing headlines in the last few days: first, the internecine battle in the ruling Congress as well as in the opposition BJP; second, the gold smuggling scandal involving a film actress that has alleged links to two cabinet ministers; and third, the attempt to honey-trap a senior minister of the Siddaramaiah government and his son, who is a member of the state legislative council.
In the gold smuggling scandal, the police have arrested two persons, actor Ranya Rao and her friend Tarun Raju. Authorities say more arrests are likely. Rao’s stepfather, a senior IPS officer, has been sent on compulsory leave. Central investigative agencies have taken over the case. This scandal has also exposed Dubai-Bengaluru as a prime route for gold smuggling.
The internal strife between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivaumar over sharing power has been going on almost since the Congress government took charge in the state in the middle of 2023. The group supporting Siddaramaiah has demanded that DKS, as Shivakumar is widely called, step down as president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). Hardly a week passes without some Congress leader or the other making a statement in favour of or against the power-sharing formula.
As per the formula proposed at the time of swearing in, Siddaramaiah would rule for the first two-and-a-half years, and then, DKS would take over. However, no one from the Congress high command has come out openly on this so far. It must be maintained that despite the power struggle, the CM and deputy CM have shown utmost cordiality in public.
One prominent member of the group supporting Siddaramaiah, and has been at daggers drawn with DKS, is the 73-year-old minister of cooperation, K N Rajanna. It is Rajanna who claimed on the floor of the House on March 20 that a honey-trap attempt had been made against him and his son. The scandal has shocked everyone. That Rajanna himself admitted it in the House and called for a high-level probe indicated the seriousness. His son Rajendra told the media that such attempts had been going on “for months”.
Though the issue was raised by two BJP MLAs in the assembly on March 20, the party itself failed to cash in on it on the first day. The two MLAs didn’t get wider support from others. It was a good opportunity for the opposition to hold the government by the scruff of its neck. The failure was perhaps brought to the notice of the party’s high command. Amends were made the next day, the last of the session. The BJP raised the issue along with the Muslim quota bill and brought the House to a halt. The BJP asked the government: “Who is the director and producer of these honey-traps?”
This was an issue that has deeply embarrassed the ruling Congress, but the BJP failed to take advantage of it on Day One. Imagine a minister, a senior one at that, stands on the floor of the House, expresses his helplessness, and asks the home minister to launch a probe so that the culprits behind the honey-trap scandal can be brought to book. Rajanna even said the state has become a “CD factory” and that there are 48 honey-trap cases in Karnataka involving leaders of different political parties and states. Incidentally, in Karnataka, several politicians have obtained injunctions from courts restraining media houses from publishing ‘defamatory’ content on them.
Rumours of honey-trapping of minister/s were making rounds in the corridors of power for at least a week. It seems a senior minister even brought this to the notice of the CM, who is said to have assured that a probe would be launched into the matter. With the legislature session on, MLAs and MLCs were heard discussing in hushed tones about the scandal. Despite all this, Home Minister G Parameshwara said he came to know of the issue only after BJP MLA Sunil Kumar spoke about it on the floor of the assembly. If this was so, what was the state intelligence, which reports to the CM, doing?
Parameshwara has assured of a probe. One hopes it would find the truth and help bring the culprits to justice. A honey-trap case involving then BJP minister Ramesh Jarkiholi became big news and forced him to resign in 2021. Next year, a personal assistant of then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai was also honey-trapped.
Ramesh, a member of the powerful Jarkiholi family from Belagavi, had led the rebellion against then CM H D Kumaraswamy and succeeded in bringing down the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government in 2019. He was part of the 17 MLAs of Congress and JD(S) to resign as part of ‘Operation Lotus’ and join the BJP. All of them contested and won, except one.
The BJP of today is a seriously divided house in Karnataka. Senior MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal is launching tirades against former CM B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra, now the state BJP chief, on a daily basis. The Lingayat MLA has been joined by about 10 others, including Jarkiholi, demanding the ouster of Vijayendra, a first-time MLA, as the party chief. The high command has surprised many by not taking any action against him, except issuing notices.
A year ago, sleaze videos went public of Janata Dal MP Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. In 2012, videos of three MLAs watching porn in the Karnataka House became viral. It’s sad that Karnataka, once proudly called a progressive state, is now facing ignominy because of such shameful incidents.
B S Arun, senior journalist based in Bengaluru
(Views are personal)