Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter DOUBLE STANDARD POLITICS ASHOK CHAVAN V/S YEDURAPPA

BY. FIROZ.T.TOTANAWALA 

THE BANGALORE METRO REPORTER

DOUBLE STANDARD POLITICS 

ASHOK CHAVAN V/S YEDURAPPA 

 The Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had to resign following the Adarsh Housing Society scam where flats meant for Kargil widows were cornered by defense personnel and powerful politicians. Much before Ashok Chavan became the CM, his relatives had purchased flats in this housing complex. When the scam broke out, the Congress high command ensured that Ashok Chavan tendered his resignation but waited for disclosure till Obama departed. The BJP stalled the parliament demanding the resignation but Ashok Chavan had already resigned before. The same BJP who stalled the Parliament had to apply same yardstick to their Chief Minister B.S Yeddyurappa who is involved in similar, if not more serious scam. But, the reality is different in South. 

 The opening day of the parliament saw the congress High command ordering capital punishment to two of its senior leaders. It had asked the Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan to resign and stripped CPP general Secretary Suresh Kalmadi from the post. Unaware of these developments the BJP and its allies stalled the house proceedings demanding resignation of Ashok Chavan and ordering CBI enquiry into the Adarsha Housing Society scam. The BJP also demanded the resignation of Suresh Kalmadi the Chairman of Organising Committee of the recently concluded common wealth games. 

 But what they did not bargain for was the swift action by Sonia Gandhi even before the houses met. In the wake of the Adarsh Society scam, Ashok Chavan had tendered his resignation to Sonia Gandhi on 5th November itself. But she kept it pending till the visiting US President Barak Obama left the Country. She directed Ashok Chavan to submit the papers to the Governor. At the same time, she had asked Suresh Kalmadi to resign from the post of Secretary of the Congress parliamentary party. As far as Adarsh Society is concerned, the CBI was told to conduct the probe and the CBI is already probing the CWG scams. In one shot, Sonia Gandhi had taken the winds away from the BJP. Then BJP demanded the sacking of Telecom Minister A Raja for his role in the 2G spectrum scam. But, because Raja belongs to DMK, Sonia Gandhi had to take the consent of Karunanidhi to sack him and it obviously took a couple of days for a decision in this regard. 

 But, now the Congress has turned the tables against BJP daring it to emulate its action in the case of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, who is neck deep involved in similar if not more serious scams. For reasons best known, the BJP High Command took no action, not even rebuke against Yedurappa. 

 In fact, the BJP in Karnataka has heralded despicable political culture. It came to power by purchasing six independents. It acquired majority by reducing the strength of opposition parties by engineering resignations of their MLAs and making them Ministers and getting them elected in the bye elections. In the recent rebellion of twenty MLAs, the Yedurappa Government saved the day by disqualifying 16 MLAs through the speaker just hours before the vote of confidence. Thus it survived by reducing the strength of the house itself. The political culture sunk to its new low in the history of Indian democracy. 

 More than this despicable political culture, the Yedurappa Government is neck deep in hi-fi corruption. And leading the way is none other than the Chief Minister himself. He is involved in a scam which is worse than Ashok Chavan’s. Yedurappa’s MP Son B.Y Raghvendra, his son-in-law have purchased BDA acquired lands in Arkavathi Layout. S.N Krishnaiah Setty has sold (?) the lands. The Supreme Court has upheld the acquisition of lands for Arkavathi layout. After the lands were registered in the names of Raghavendra and other family members, Yedurappa got the lands denotified despite opposition from the BDA. What more, as a safe bet, the original owner was made to apply for denotification instead of Raghavendra and others. This was a clear plan to keep the entire scam under wraps. The lands are of course worth crores! 

 There are other denotifications by Yedurappa which were all for monetary gains. In one particular case, Yedurappa denotified BDA lands in Nagarabhavi where the BDA had allotted sites and houses were build years ago including that of Law and Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar. How can one imagine the denotification of fully build up lands by Yedurappa? It is simply inhuman and cruel. And when the matter was taken up in the High Court, Yedurappa simply cancelled the denotification. 

 As far as Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan is concerned, his relatives had procured the flat much before he became the CM. Here too, the land on which the Apartments were built was meant for widows of Kargil heroes. But the flats were grabbed by many top defense personnel and powerful politicians. Successive CMs from Sushil Kumar Shindhe, Vilas Rao Deshmukh etc. have contributed their mite in getting clearance to the Housing project. After the scam broke out, the Government has withdrawn occupancy certificates and declared the Housing Complex as illegal as it violated Zonal Regulations and sanctioned plan. Finally, with his relatives’ names in the beneficiaries list, Ashok Chavan met Sonia Gandhi and submitted his resignation as CM. It was accepted but declared officially only after Obama left India. 

 In case of BSY, one can find similarities with Ashok Chavan’s case. Raghavendra purchased some lands in Arkavathi Layout which was acquired by BDA years back. The Supreme Court had held the land acquisition valid. There is also a SC judgement to the effect that once the lands are acquired, they can not be denotified. But Yedurappa overruled all the objections by BDA and Urban Development and ordered the denotification of the land. The reason being simple, the lands were purchased by his Son and son-in-law! 

 The Congress is right when it dared the BJP to emulate the Ashok Chavan incident in case of BSY also. But the BJP is in no mood, even to contemplate issuing a warning to Yedurappa. And the BJP always take up high moral ground over probity in public life. They are adopting double standard now. One cannot expect any meaningful and positive action from the BJP High Command in the case of Yedurappa. And what about Yedurappa? He does not even dream of quitting the CM post and recently made a claim of being in the CM chair for another 20 years? God save Karnataka!