Bengaluru, Apr 25: Senior Congress leader Janardhana Poojary on Sunday charged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with weakening the Karnataka Lokayukta and said popularity of the government has taken a beating due to such bad decisions.
The institution was effectively fighting corruption. But the government weakened it by setting up the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The ACB comes under the direct control of the chief minister.
As a result, people cannot expect a free and fair investigation into charges of corruption against public servants, he added.
Will bring disrepute'
“It is for this reason I warned that the decision to set up ACB will bring you (the chief minister) disrepute. Remember, it was because of the Lokayukta, Yeddyurappa (former chief minister) went to jail and subsequently, you (Siddaramaiah) became the chief minister,” he said and advised him to appoint only those who are honest as his advisers.
Poojary also took exception to Siddaramaiah not turning up at the event. “Nothing would have happened to you (the chief minister) if you had attended the function. You should have come on wheelchair if you were not feeling well. I was also not feeling well. But I took some medicine and managed to attend,” he said.
He said, “Being honest and speaking only the truth in public life is like meditation. I had an opportunity to become chief minister on four different occasions. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao wanted to make me the chief minister. However, I could not become the chief minister because I didn't know how to do collection.”
He, however, did not explain what the collection was about. Earlier, AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad took exception to Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya for calling upon the partymen not to criticise Siddaramaiah.
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