Pushed into a corner over nepotism and corruption charges, the Congress government in Karnataka is hoping to counter the BJP by taking up a report on alleged irregularities during the Covid-19 pandemic when the latter was in power.
The interim report was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by a commission set up under retired High Court Judge Michael D’Cunha on August 31. On Tuesday, the CM said it will be taken up at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The Justice D’Cunha Commission was formed in August 2023 after a Public Accounts Committee report flagged under-reporting of deaths, inflated bills and the concealing of documents related to the procurement of medicines and equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Commission is also learnt to have sought an extension of another six months to file the final report.
Even before Siddaramaiah announced that the report would be taken up in the Cabinet, a war of words broke out between former Health and Family Welfare minister Dr K Sudhakar, who is now a BJP MP, and Congress leaders.
The threat of possible corruption charges hanging over him, Sudhakar on Tuesday sought to dismiss the interim report and said that even former Karnataka CMs such as S Nijalingappa and D Devraj Urs were not spared from such charges.
“The so-called ‘Mr Clean’ Siddaramaiah is facing corruption charges today,” the MP said, referring to the alleged Mysore Urban Authority Development (MUDA) scam.
Sudhakar went on to say that the days of the Congress government were “numbered”. “They have started a tradition of political vengeance… This is a government of dacoits.”
In response, Siddaramaiah said Wednesday that when the contents of the report were not public yet, how could Sudhakar comment on it, unless he was doing so “out of fear that (his) mistakes will come out”.
Dinesh Gundu Rao, the current Health Minister, accused Sudhakar of “acting like a thief”. “He is going around alleging that our government is pursuing political vendetta. Why is he spitting fire if he is confident that he has not committed any mistake?” he asked.
BJP Parliamentary Board member BS Yediyurappa who was the CM between July 2019 and July 2021, at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Wednesday “that the government was free to take a decision about the case”. “We will face it legally,” he said.
The Justice D’Cunha Commission was one of the two Commissions set up by the Congress government to probe corruption during the previous BJP government in Karnataka. The other panel was set up under Justice Nagamohan Das to investigate the “40% commission” charges.
The Siddaramaiah government has been facing severe heat over multiple charges of corruption over the past two months. The first major case of corruption was related to the Karnataka State Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation and led to the resignation of and arrest of former ST Affairs minister B Nagendra. The others allegedly involve Siddaramaiah himself, and the family of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
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