Karnataka Lokayukta Bangalore City police has  recovered cash from house of Prashanth Madal, Chief Accountant, BWSSB. (Photo | Express)
Karnataka Lokayukta Bangalore City police has recovered cash from house of Prashanth Madal, Chief Accountant, BWSSB. (Photo | Express)

Cash haul from MLA embarrasses BJP in poll-bound Karnataka

A farce preceded the HC bail order, with the MLA going underground for 90 hours and the Lokayukta police in hot pursuit. He has now vowed to prove that the over Rs 8 crore seized is his own money.

The issue of corruption continues to haunt the ruling BJP in Karnataka, with Channagiri MLA and Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd (KSDL) chairman Madal Virupakshappa and his KAS officer-son working in consonance to collect bribes from businessmen. The raid and seizure by Lokayukta officials, carried out with surgical precision on the MLA’s office and home, bore a surprise element, and pushed the BJP onto the backfoot. Party leader and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa drew the official line by declaring that the MLA should be arrested, though Virupakshappa managed to get interim bail from the Karnataka High Court, and also an injunction against reportage in the media. A farce preceded the HC bail order, with the MLA going underground for 90 hours and the Lokayukta police in hot pursuit. He has now vowed to prove that the over Rs 8 crore seized is his own money.

The episode is bound to have its bearing on the party and has left the BJP leadership embarrassed. With the state going to polls in a couple of months, corruption is bound to be a deciding factor. Virupakshappa has literally handed the opposition its election campaign pitch on a platter and validated the Congress’ allegations of corruption in the corridors of power. The opposition party swiftly put up posters of ‘Missing Madal’ and went to town with the optics of the cash haul. The charges of “40 per cent commission” government appear to be gaining credibility. It is no longer mere allegations by contractors, as in former minister K S Eshwarappa’s case, but actual seizure of cash.

Though Virupakshappa resigned as KSDL chairman, he put up a public show of strength on his home turf, with his supporters taking him in a procession with garlands and crackers. It bore shades of Yediyurappa’s march to Raj Bhavan in 2011 when he was to be arrested for his involvement in the mining scam. Such processions, marked by tears, defiance and victimisation, have become fashionable among corrupt politicians, and make a mockery of the due process of law. A common citizen in such a situation would be humiliated, handcuffed and hauled off to prison, and would have to wait many months for bail. Not so our VIPs, who are given a hero’s welcome for their wrongs and get instant bail. Sadly, our courts, too, favour the rich and influential instead of cracking down on such shows of power.

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