Bengaluru:
Congress’s Basavaraj Rayareddy, MLA from Yelaburga and the financial advisor to the Chief Minister, has scored a self-goal for the party with his unfiltered criticism of the Siddaramaiah government. Speaking at a programme in his constituency Yelaburga, Mr Rayareddy had spoken of “rampant corruption” that has “become a bane to developmental works”. It has been music to the ears of the state’s opposition BJP, which has found itself at a loose end after its abysmal performance in the state election.
“Make sure the quality of the schools that are built is good,” Mr Rayareddy said while addressing a gathering during a inauguration of a bus stop in his constituency.
“The schools that are built these days collapse in front of our eyes within five years. In the past, my father had built a school on our own land. I studied in that school till the 5th grade. It is intact even today. But the ones I have built are crumbling. What is the meaning of this? Today, the ones building or the ones getting it built are both not good. For this, the people should be good,” he said.
Mr Rayareddy is further said to have spoken about Karnataka being number one in terms of corruption during an internal meeting with the officials of his constituency too.
Confirming that he has indeed spoken of corruption, Mr Rayareddy told NDTV that it was not the government he targeted but the system.
“I’m talking about the rampant corruption in the system. It has to be checked,’ he said. Asked about the criticism from the BJP and the JDU, he said, “We should thank Siddaramaiah for bringing transparency”.
The comments brought cheer to the Opposition camp, coming on the heels of the huge controversy over Home Minister G Parameshwara’s “such incidents happen in big cities” remark about a sexual assault in Bengaluru. The BJP and JDS had a field day with the comment that brought sharp criticism against the Congress government from other quarters as well.
This time, JDS leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of union minister and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, led the attack for his party.
“I learnt about the Financial Advisor to the Chief Minister talking about rampant corruption in the state. Earlier, he had said how the guarantees are drowning the state’s finances. I congratulate him for his honesty,” he said.
S Prakash of the BJP termed it a “candid confession”.
“This is a candid admission by the Financial Advisor to the Chief Minister about rampant corruption in the state. Siddaramaiah keeps boasting about this government now he needs to answer to what Rayareddy has said,” he said.
Mr Rayareddy, who has been in the Congress for over two decades, has lately been an in-house critic. His earlier comment about Congress guarantees “bleeding the exchequer” had drawn serious flak.
“The five guarantees have become a huge financial burden for our government because as much as Rs 58,000 crore has been earmarked for it. As an economic advisor, I am exploring the possibilities of getting funds from the Centre and state to implement them,” he had said in January last year.
It had left the government read faced and prompted a denial from Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who said, “Guarantee schemes are not draining any resources and we will continue them”.
In July last year, Mr Rayareddy set off a row with his comment that anyone could become the Chief Minister so why not him.
Amid strong rumours about Mr Siddaramaiah getting replaced, Mr Rayareddy said, “Anyone could become the Chief Minister of the state. I am asking the media, why shouldn’t I become the Chief Minister of Karnataka?”
“I also belong to the Lingayat community. Among the Lingayat MLAs, me and BR Patil are the senior most MLAs. He is 83 and I am 68 years old. However, I got elected more…eight times. In this background, there is nothing as such that I should not become the Chief Minister,” said the leader, who aspired to be a minister but had to accept the role of the Chief Minister’s financial advisor.
