india

Updated: Sep 15, 2019 19:39 IST

Promises from chief minister BS Yediyurappa of not indulging in vindictive politics against the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) have been belied by his actions in power, a fact that the opposition parties have been quick to seize upon.

In the latest case, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has launched a probe into Krishi Bhagya Scheme, started by the then Congress CM Siddaramaiah, which provided assistance to farmers to dig small farm tanks to store rainwater. In the two months in power, the government has gone about systematically launching probes into flagship programmes of the two previous governments, especially those launched by Siddaramaiah.

However, for a brief moment after the coalition government collapsed and Yediyurappa was on the verge of assuming power, there was a let up in the squabbles between the three parties with the chief minister promising he would follow a new mantra while in power, “forgive and forget”.

Not everybody was convinced of these intentions. Even as chief minister-designate Yediyurappa directed the authorities to cancel transfer orders and stall projects that were signed in the dying days of the previous government, orders that hadn’t been acted on.

Subsequently, there was the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged phone tapping scandal, the CBI probe into the I Monetary Advisory firm scam, probes into Siddaramaiah’s Indira Canteen scheme, and Tender Sure contracts of road improvements. There was even a proposal to scale down the Anna Bhagya scheme of providing free rice to the poor. However, in most cases the government has had to beat a retreat as many of the populist schemes enjoy wide support.

In most cases, though, the opposition parties have also found it hard to argue against the government’s decisions because it has been couched as a fight against corruption in these schemes.

State law minister JC Madhuswamy said there was no question of vindictiveness at all. “Is it wrong for a government to look into corruption in government schemes?” He said that the government’s only intention was to make the schemes better and ensure it reached people.

Madhuswamy said the reason the Congress and the JD(S) were getting angry about the probes was because of their lapses while in government.

“They left the administration in absolute chaos,” he said. “There were more promotions than departments could handle, projects had been approved and we had no idea what was happening. It has taken us two months to even get a grip of the excesses of the previous government in its final few days in office,” he said.

However, this was a charge that former tourism minister Sa Ra Mahesh of the JD(S), who is a close aide of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, denied. “Take the phone tapping case that has been handed over to the CBI. We have no problem with that at all, but they should also hand over the transcripts of the phone calls to the public,” he said.

“They are unable to bring even one concrete allegation against our government, but by launching probes into many schemes they are attempting to portray as if there has been massive corruption,” Mahesh said.

Congress state working president Eshwar Khandre echoed Mahesh’s views, saying that the attempt was to make people suspicious about previous government. “Even now it appears as though the government is not at all confident in its ability, which is why it is trying to tarnish our image,” he said.

Khandre said this was clear when one looked at the schemes in which the government had initiated probes. “All the schemes that they have gone after were novel schemes that had become very popular and this appears to be the reason for the BJP proceeding in this manner,” he said.