Last Updated on 02/08/2024 by wccexam Desk
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to be in trouble. The reason is that the state’s Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot is preparing to order a case against Siddaramaiah for his alleged role in the ‘irregular’ purchase of a government land by his wife. This case can be filed against the CM under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Governor sent a formal notice to the Chief Minister seeking the Cabinet’s ‘opinion’ on the alleged MUDA land allotment scam. Following this, the Council of Ministers met on Thursday and advised the Governor to withdraw the show cause notice sent to Siddaramaiah. The Council of Ministers also termed it a concerted effort to destabilise a stable government elected by a majority.
Siddaramaiah kept himself away from this meeting. After which the cabinet meeting was chaired by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. After the meeting which lasted for about five hours, Shivakumar said that there was nothing illegal in Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati getting an alternative site from MUDA for her land. The Governor is acting in a hurry without any investigation or inquiry. Shivakumar claimed that Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot had no case to give sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah.
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But, the Governor has all the documents related to MUDA land allotment and has also sought opinion from legal experts in this regard. The Governor had said in his notice that the allegations against the Chief Minister are of serious nature and prima facie appear to be justified. This indicates that the Governor seems to be willing to take further action.
Example of Yediyurappa
This current situation in Karnataka is being compared to the criminal proceedings initiated by the then Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj against the then Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa in 2011 in the case of cancellation of notification. Then on the basis of the petition filed by complainants Sirajuddin Basha and KN Balraj, Bhardwaj had given permission to prosecute Yeddyurappa under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 197 (permission to prosecute a public servant) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. After the FIR was registered, the central leadership of the BJP had asked Yeddyurappa to resign.
After resigning, Yeddyurappa had to face trial. During this, he was also sent to judicial custody for three weeks. Yeddyurappa is the first former Chief Minister of Karnataka who had to go to jail. On the notice sent by Gehlot and the move of seeking advice, BV Acharya, who has been the Advocate General of Karnataka five times, says, the Governor has followed the right procedure by writing a letter to the Chief Minister. Normally the Governor has to work on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
Article 163 of the Constitution gives the Governor the right to use his discretion. If he feels that the advice given by the Council of Ministers is malicious or wrong for any other reason, then he has the right to disagree (with the Council of Ministers) and express his opinion freely. Acharya cited the decision of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the ‘Madhya Pradesh Establishment Case 2004’. In this case, the court had upheld the decision of the Governor in which he allowed prosecution against two state ministers, even though the cabinet had advised him not to do so.
Siddaramaiah is also under the scanner of Lokayukta probe
Siddaramaiah is facing trouble from another quarter. Anti-corruption activist TJ Abraham, besides approaching the governor, has also filed a complaint with the Lokayukta police in Mysore on July 18. He has alleged that the state exchequer has suffered a loss of Rs 45 crore due to the illegal allotment of 14 alternative sites in the posh Vijayanagar area of Mysore to the chief minister’s wife Parvathy. He has demanded prosecution of Siddaramaiah, his wife, son and the MUDA commissioner.
Apart from asking the Governor to withdraw the notice issued to the Chief Minister, the Council of Ministers also took note of Abraham’s complaint. The Council of Ministers has urged the Governor to dismiss his petition, saying that he has a history of blackmailing, extortion and criminal history.
Meanwhile, differences emerged between the opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders in the state over taking out padayatras from Bengaluru and Mysore to demand Siddaramaiah’s resignation. However, on Thursday, the two parties reconciled after the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda. Union Minister and JD(S) President HD Kumaraswamy had announced to boycott the padayatra. The reason for this protest was said to be the BJP leaders giving an important role in this movement to young Vokkaliga leader Preetham Gowda from Hassan.
This was a setback for Kumaraswamy as Preetham had allegedly played a key role in maligning the image of Kumaraswamy’s nephew Prajwal Revanna during the Lok Sabha elections. He had distributed hundreds of pen drives containing videos related to Prajwal’s alleged involvement in a sex scam. Later, after Preetham withdrew from the walkathon, Kumaraswamy decided that his party men would join the padayatra.
Congress leaders are planning a movement on the Bengaluru-Mysore road to highlight the scams that took place during the previous BJP government in the state. Apart from this, the Congress is presenting the BJP’s movement as a conspiracy to defame OBC leader Siddaramaiah and remove him from the post of CM.
Governor Gehlot, who is currently in New Delhi, is expected to return to Bengaluru on August 5. Only then will he decide whether to allow prosecution against Siddaramaiah or not. Since there is no constitutional requirement to resign when the trial begins, there are indications that Siddaramaiah and the Congress party may take a rebellious stance, citing the example of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In the coming days, when there will be high-voltage politics on this issue, it remains to be seen how much impact it has on the governance.
(Opinion: Ramakrishna Upadhyay)
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)