Recently there was a controversy about the Karnataka Housing Board buying lands paying exorbitant price which is many times more than the market price. The matter was discussed in the Legislative Assembly too. Many adverse reports appeared in the electronic and print media. The person involved in the controversy was the former Housing Minister Krishnaiah Setty. [By the way there are two types among those who bear the surname Shetty or Setty. Those hailing from Mangalore and called bunts spell their name as Shetty while those belonging to Vysya community spell their name as SETTY, according to my understanding].
It was surprising that the former Minister had the gumption and temerity to say something which only an irresponsible and a shameless person would utter on a serious subject that it was. If he had said it in a lighter vein, by way of a banter, it would be quite another matter. This was what he said, posing a question: "I belong to Arya Vysya community. My profession is doing business. As such what is wrong if I had bought the land for the Housing Board from my brother?"
Surprisingly, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and his Ministerial colleagues successfully warded off the opposition attack and vehemently justified the purchase of lands by the Housing Board paying higher price.
It appears the then Housing Minister Krishnaiah Setty's brother Srinivasa Setty had purchased lands from the farmers at Rs. 5 lakh per acre. He then sold the same land to the Housing Board, for which his brother Krishnaiah Setty was the Minister, for Rs. 50 lakh per acre!
It is interesting to realise how the opposition was silenced by the BJP leaders. They simply used the ultimate weapon in their quiver — Brahmastra. They just asked them a question, "Did you not do the same thing when you Congress and JD(S) were in power?"
Happily for the Ruling Party nobody retorted saying “you can't justify a wrong by citing another wrong”.
The ruling BJP did not have any difficulty in proving their point with documentary evidence. The BJP mentioned of similar kind of scandal committed on the part of Congress and JD (S) governments when they bought land for the Housing Board in Surya Nagar in Bangalore and while buying the land for building the Airport in Hassan. It appears the land which had a market value of Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 lakh was purchased by the government paying Rs. 11 lakh. Similarly in Ramanagar, the Kumaraswamy government bought land to set - up the Health University by buying lands paying Rs. 40 lakh per acre and so on so forth ad nauseam.
It is said if you want to go to a court of justice you must go with clean hands. Well here in this case both the Congress and the JD (S) have already dirtied their hands and as such they have lost their moral authority to point a finger at an equally dirty hand of BJP.
While it is just and proper for the opposition to expose this kind of financial scam committed by the government, rarely have we seen the issue being taken to its logical end by punishing the guilty or recovering the loss caused to the exchequer.
The truth is, the government with so many Ministries (departments) and with so much of money in the State Treasury from the taxes paid by the entrepreneurs, workers and farmers, will have any number of avenues to make illegal gains like in the case of Housing Board scam.
It is with this kind of money all political parties fight their electoral battles. It could be the Revenue Department, it could be the Forest Department, it could be the Transport Department, it could be the Police Department, it could be the Industries Department, and it could be the Excise Department. It could even be the Veterinary Department considered the most insignificant Department with negligible budget allocation.
All these Departments are headed by a Minister and, therefore, the Minister must make money for himself, his trusted chelas and his party, so as to not only enrich himself but also to fight the coming elections.
We all remember that inveterate, comical character Lalu Prasad Yadav of Bihar. This was the man whom Khushwant Singh had called the most ungrateful person in some other context. He was also the Minister involved in that notorious Fodder Scam running to crores of rupees. I wonder if the case is still going on or if he had been acquitted of all allegations. Who will remember if a case goes on for almost a person's lifetime? A news item in this regard that appeared in this morning's paper is published alongside.
Regardless of whatever happened to the case, I just want to mention the genesis of the Fodder Scam. It appears when Lalu was a young socialist politician of the JP movement, who later became a protege of V. P. Singh, he learnt of the Congress Chief Minister of Bihar making money from the Veterinary Department by getting fake bills raised for the fodder bought.
Naturally, when Lalu became the MLA he raised the issue and benefited. He was silenced by the Congress CM. You know what! Next, when he became the Chief Minister, he well remembered the lessons learnt from Congress and allocated huge funds for the Veterinary Department which had never happened before. From experience he knew that was the Department nobody bothers about and hence if money is looted nobody will notice nor will complain. He was right. Can animals complain in the manner human beings complain? No wonder, Lalu Prasad Yadav could rule Bihar for 15 long years till he met his nemesis in Nitish Kumar of JD (U).
Now to come back to the Housing Board land scams, the truth is the new rulers are innocently experimenting the lessons learnt from the earlier rulers — Congress and JD (S). Well sir, remember, Hamam me sub log nanga hain! Hence, don't make noise, let there be honour among thieves.
