BENGALURU: It was a politically charged year marked by scams and scandals allegedly involving politicians, and elections that saw oscillating fortunes for parties and their top leaders. The Congress government and its top leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were mired in controversies and facing serious charges.
The CM and his family members are being investigated by the Lokayukta police in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites allotment case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also investigating the case.
The MUDA had allotted 14 residential sites in an upmarket locality in Mysuru to the CM’s wife. The sites were returned after the governor sanctioned prosecuting the CM, and the High Court made scathing observations. The MUDA developments caused major embarrassment to the CM and the government. For Siddaramaiah, a lot depends on the outcome of the ongoing probe in the case.
The government was also embroiled in a multi-crore scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. Funds from the corporation’s bank accounts were illegally transferred to private accounts. Funds meant for the welfare of people from scheduled castes were allegedly used in the Lok Sabha polls.
The scam was exposed after a corporation official died by suicide, leaving behind a death note. Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister B Nagendra resigned and was arrested by the ED. The role of the Finance Department officials is also said to be under the scanner of the central agency.
The Siddaramaiah government faced a major backlash over handling the Waqf land issue, while alleged corruption in the Excise department embarrassed the party, as the BJP took it up in the Maharashtra polls. Perhaps for the first time, pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in the corridors of the Vidhana Soudha, when Congress won the Rajya Sabha polls. The government was accused of going soft on the accused.
The government was also accused of not providing adequate funds to MLAs to take up development works in their constituencies. Some of them even called for a relook at the five guarantee schemes with a budget allocation of Rs 56,000 crore. However, the government ruled out any compromise on its flagship schemes.
Leadership issues and an agreement purportedly worked out by the Congress high command to share power between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar also often come for discussions in political circles. There is no clarity on it. The CM’s remark dismissing any such agreement has also not fully cleared the air.
For now, the Congress appears to be going strong in Karnataka under Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar’s leadership. It was reaffirmed by the party’s 3:0 emphatic win in the Assembly bypolls. However, the Congress fell short of its expectations in the Lok Sabha polls. It won just nine out of 28 seats.
On their part, after facing a humiliating defeat in the Assembly polls last year, BJP-JDS made a comeback of sorts in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after forging a pre-poll alliance. Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s elevation as the Union minister helped the regional party stave off an existential crisis.
His son Nikhil’s defeat in the Assembly bypolls was a setback for the party’s first family and its efforts to launch him into electoral politics. But, it is not something that will have significant consequences for the regional party.
The JDS faced a major crisis during the Lok Sabha polls over a sex scandal allegedly involving then MP and JDS-BJP candidate Prajwal Revanna. Prajwal was accused of allegedly sexually assaulting several women and videos went viral towards the end of the first phase of the LS polls, when campaigning for the second phase was at its peak. Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson, Prajwal lost the election in the party’s bastion, Hassan. He was arrested and sent to jail.
Prajwal’s father HD Revanna, MLA and former minister, was also arrested in the case. Shockingly, Prajwal’s brother and JDS MLC Suraj Revanna was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a man. It was a time of serious crisis for the Gowda family and the JDS. To some extent, Kumaraswamy salvaged the situation.
It was a challenging year for the BJP as well. Though it managed to keep up pressure on the Siddaramaiah government over several issues, internal crisis dogged the party. Several senior leaders openly rebelled against state president BY Vijayendra’s leadership. Internal crisis spilled over to the streets and discipline went for a toss.
While the government launched a probe into alleged irregularities in the Covid-19 pandemic management during the BJP rule, a BJP MLA and former minister Munirathna Naidu was arrested in a rape case.
At the fag end of the year, Congress and BJP indulged in an acrimonious fight over BJP MLC CT Ravi’s alleged derogatory remarks against Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, and the police allegedly harassing the BJP lawmaker. There was never a dull moment in state politics in the year that is coming to an end.