The Karnataka Police Mahasangha wrote to the state’s governor on Tuesday to ask permission for prosecuting their Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over Nepotism and misuse of power allegations.
The charges have been levied reportedly on the basis of his appointment of Hoskote MLA, N. Nagaraj as the Chairman of Bangalore’s International Airport area planning authority. The report claimed that the CM was violating the oath of office as he was appointing people as per his whims and fancies without having any knowledge of the candidate’s background. It further asked him to be held accountable for the same as the decision was allegedly made to benefit his own partymen to get such posts.
The letter also put out various criteria which one needs to fulfil for becoming a member of the planning authority, unless he/she is made a member by virtue of their office. The criteria includes having at-least a 5 year experience as either an engineer, town planner or architect. It also includes having to specialise in any one of the fields like economics, geography among others.
Shashidhar Venugopal the chief of this same Mahasangha had filed a complaint against Siddaramaiah and 27 other ministers in May with the Karnataka Lokayukta, over the transfer of police officers in the state. It was alleged that large scale corruption had taken place to facilitate the transfers.
Theses aren’t the only controversial instances clouding the public life of Siddaramaiah.
It was reported that the CM was found wearing a Hublot watch which allegedly cost Rs 70 lakh. This resulted in the opposition demanding a probe into the matter. Siddaramaiah claimed that he was gifted the watch by a friend and later declared it a state asset and deposited it with the state secretariat.
In April 2016 he faced allegations of nepotism after a contract to set up a CT and MRI lab at the government-run Bengaluru Medical College was given to a company headed by his son.
Even the Indira Canteen which seems to have become his poll plank have become marred with allegations of food shortage and unhygienic cooking.