By Shankar Raj*
Bengaluru: Nudged by the Bharatiya Janata Party high command, Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa today announced his resignation following the controversy over the alleged suicide of contractor Santosh Patil.
He announced his decision to resign from the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet at the BJP office in Shivamogga, his hometown. He said he did not want to “put the party leaders in a fix” and hence took the decision to resign. Eshwarappa will submit his resignation to Bommai Friday.
Till early morning, Eshwarappa had taken a defiant stand and had maintained that there was no question of resigning. But with the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) intensifying their agitation against him, the minister was asked by the party high command to quietly go and not give the opposition a stick to beat the party with, especially ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
Political observers feel his resignation will give credence to the charges that bribery is a norm in Karnataka and that many ministers may have their fingers in the pie.
Bommai too had ruled out any action against Eshwarappa, against whom police had booked a case for abetting Patil’s suicide.
Eshwarappa landed in controversy after he was named in the suicide of a civil contractor Santosh Patil. The contractor had said in a message that the minister and his henchmen were demanding 40% commission for clearing his bills on a Rs 4 crore work he had completed.
Earlier in the day, there was high drama in Bengaluru as Congress leaders DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, and others were detained as police stopped them from marching toward Bommai’s residence to demand Eshwarappa’s resignation.
Meanwhile, the stink of corruption in Karnataka is now out in the open. The alleged suicide of contractor Santosh Patil over bribe demand by Eshwarappa has snowballed with the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association confirming that bribery for the release of bill amounts is rampant in the state. The association has threatened to stop all ongoing work for a month to protest what they claimed were “continued” demands for kickbacks from various government departments.
Association chairman D Kempanna and other office-bearers have threatened to release documents to show corruption “by five to six ministers and 20 lawmakers” if Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai does not, within the next 15 days, end graft involved in awarding tenders for developmental works and clearance of bills.
“Corruption has reached its peak under this government,” Kempanna alleged. “The entire government, including the chief minister’s office is involved in the commission racket. The ministers and MLAs are directly demanding a 40% commission for awarding tenders for government works. They have appointed area-wise agents to collect commission. This must end immediately. ”
The association had brought the corruption issue to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few months ago. “Unfortunately, we did not receive a response from the PM’s office. We wrote six letters to chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. He also did not take any action. We have no option but to protest,” Kempanna said.
He said the association has evidence to back its claims of corruption but fears reprisals from BJP functionaries if they go public with it. “We will produce all the evidence if an independent probe is carried out by a retired Supreme Court judge,” he said.
Contradicting Eshwarappa claim that neither a tender nor a work order was awarded for road work that Patil had allegedly carried out in Belagavi, Kempanna said it has been a practice for years to execute civil works under rural development and panchayat raj department without a tender or work order.
“It is not new. Even now hundreds of piecemeal works of all departments are going on in villages without tenders or work orders. It’s an unwritten rule and happens at the behest of the minister and officials,” said.
Kempanna said the practice began “decades ago” due to a necessity to complete work in emergency situations. “For example, during floods or other natural calamities, certain rehabilitation works need to be carried out immediately without waiting for a lengthy tendering process to be completed,” Kempanna said.
In such situations, contractors are told to complete the work while tenders are floated later. He said the department ensures the particular contractor bags the tender.
“Unfortunately, what was meant for emergency situations is being misused by ministers to keep their supporters [contractors] happy,” they said.
HS Nataraj, treasurer of the Association, said work without tender also happens in urban areas. “The CM recently announced over Rs 7,000 crore worth of work for Bengaluru under the Nagarothana scheme. But 20% to 30% of the work has already been completed. This is how it works,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, after much persuasion, family members on Wednesday took possession of the body of Santosh Patil.
A senior police officer said: “The family decided to take the body after we convinced them that arrests will not happen immediately since the law will take its own course. We also told them to take the body as two nights have passed, and the body has begun to decompose.”
