BENGALURU: Karnataka State Contractors’ Association (KSCA) has alleged that the rate of corruption under the Congress-ruled state government has almost doubled compared to the previous BJP regime.
The association, in a hard-hitting letter dated September 25, addressed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said that KSCA fought against corruption and that it was also instrumental in helping the Congress to come to power.
KSCA President R Manjunath and General Secretary GM Ravindra, who signed the letter, alleged that the government has failed to clear the long-pending dues of contractors for nearly two years.
The charges in the letter could come as a setback and major embarrassment to the state government, as the Congress ran an aggressive campaign against then BJP government with its ‘PayCM’ and ‘40 per cent commission sarkara’ campaigns, which dented the BJP’s chances of retaining power in the state assembly elections in 2023.
“When you (Siddaramiah) were the leader of the opposition, you had said that no commission would be asked to clear bills if your (Congress) party comes to power. However, we regret to inform you that compared to the previous government, the commission has doubled in eight departments that execute projects,” Majunath said in the letter.
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KSCA President Manjunath alleged that the followers of elected representatives and the Congress workers were bagging projects from institutions like Nirmiti Kendra and Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited, and then, in turn, were ‘sub-contracted’ to ‘senior contractors’ in exchange for a cut. He said that, in doing so, it was difficult for the contractors to maintain the quality.
As the allegation quickly picked up, with the BJP slamming the government, when TNSE sought reactions from the association, they downplayed the allegations. “Our pending dues have increased to nearly Rs 32,000 crore, spread across nine government departments. Dasara festival is a big event for contractors, and they will have to pay their workers. The association has only appealed to the government to release at least 50% of the pending amount either during Dasara or Deepavali,” GM Ravindra, told TNSE.
Retracting from the doubling of corruption charges, Manjunath said they only wanted to bring the government’s attention towards clearing pending dues.
LoP R Ashoka alleged that contractors had put in writing complaints of rising commissions under the Siddaramaiah-led government. He questioned whether Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would respond to the allegations.