Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dismissal of Opposition unity as a “gang of the corrupt” coming together to fight him faces a reality check in Karnataka, where the main charge against the ruling BJP is corruption.
While the “40 per cent commission” tag — stemming from allegations that state ministers seek such a cut to clear contractors’ bills — hangs around the Karnataka government’s neck, the Congress campaign is woven around the alleged loot by the BJP in almost every sector.
Modi, who has not responded to the “40 per cent commission” charge, has been compelled to seek help with the electioneering from former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa and former minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who had been sacked over corruption charges.
Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, who has been posted in Bangalore for the past one month, told The Telegraph that Modi’s “duplicity on corruption” had been exposed in Karnataka.
“Just as the Prime Minister helped the Adani group build empires from the earth to the sky, there is no area of human activity in Karnataka where the BJP government didn’t do corruption. Nobody would have ever seen such corruption before in any state of the country. It is unbelievable,” Vallabh said.
“There is a scam here in everything that is available in the universe; from Covid to Bitcoin, from recruitments to contracts, from cooperatives to banks. We get tired of reeling out the names of scams — Bitcoin scam, sub-inspector scam, assistant professor scam, assistant engineer scam, Raghvendra scam, Vijendra scam.”
He added: “It is not that the Contractors Association alone complained about a 40 per cent commission: there is a rate card for everything. A religious Swamy publicly said they gave him a ‘10 per cent discount’ and took only a 30 per cent commission.”
Vallabh wondered how the Prime Minister could talk about fighting corruption while standing by what he described as the most corrupt government in the history of independent India.
“BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said he had been offered the chief minister’s post if he could arrange Rs 2,500 crore,” he said.
“A JDS (Janata Dal Secular) candidate from Chamarajanagar, A.M. Mallikarjuna Swamy, said BJP minister V. Somanna had offered him Rs 50 lakh and a car if he withdrew from the contest. They have completely vitiated the atmosphere.”
Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge have been emphasising the “40 per cent commission” charge during the campaign for the May 10 Assembly elections.
On Friday, Rahul said “Ye chori ki sarkar hai (This government was stolen)” and appealed to voters to give at least 150 of the state’s 224 seats to the Congress if they didn’t want the BJP to form another government with stolen MLAs.
“The money they earned through the 40 per cent commissions will be used to buy MLAs again. The BJP should be given only 40 MLAs this time because of their obsession with the number 40,” he said.
Rahul never misses an opportunity to underline that the Contractors Association’s memorandum to the Prime Minister flagging the allegation of 40 per cent commissions never brought a response.
The Congress has highlighted former governor Satya Pal Malik’s claims that Modi has no particular antipathy towards corruption.
Rahul tweeted: “PSIscam, assistant professor scam, assistant engineer scam, Mysore sandal soap scam… be it MLAs or factory or jobs, stealing has become BJP’s habit. The 40% commission government will go and 5-guarantee Congress government will come.”