Political mudslinging returned to Karnataka after political heavyweights of the state took jibes at each other over corruption charges. As the Congress hit the roads, all way leading to Raj Bhavan while alleging a Rs 2,000 crore misappropriation centring around Covid care, the BJP too slapped a legal notice in its reply to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar seeking their response on allegations with proofs. This development came after a series of pressers by senior ministers of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa (BSY) cabinet. The Congress, however, welcomed the move as it gave a legal opening to drag the government to the courts over corona corruption.
Of course, this move of legal notice didn’t have the approval of the state government, blame it on fear of blowback or taking these allegations too far. What got the goat of Siddaramaiah was raking up the Hublot diamond studded watch controversy. Tourism minister and BSY close confidante C.T. Ravi took a swipe at Siddaramaiah stating a socialist who took a Rs 40-lakh worth watch as a gift has morals to question our government which is burning midnight oil to save people from the pandemic. Ravi also took digs at Siddaramaiah that he was sharing dais with a former Tihar jail inmate while referring to D.K. Shivkumar.
No sooner Ravi tweeted, Siddaramaiah who was on tour to his home district Mysore lashed out at the BJP and said, “It was a gift and I have handed it over to the Speaker to make it state property. The AntiCorruption Bureau has given me clean chit. You cannot intimidate me with such statements. Should I recall why Yeddyurappa’s went to jail and the mining scams?
In the middle of the slanging match, former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy too joined the issue and attacked Siddaramaiah while holding him responsible for the collapse of JDS-Congress coalition government in 2019. Kumaraswamy said in a series of tweets that Siddaramaiah, who was leading protests against BJP’s anti-democratic ways in the wake of developments in Rajasthan, had no moral grounds as he played a role in horse trading leading to his ouster.