Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Priyank Kharge is getting ready to fulfil his election “guarantee”, i.e., cleansing Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) of corruption and irregularities. This, he said, is in addition to the Congress’ five guarantees.
Soon after taking oath as Minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, Mr. Kharge, who is the Chittapur MLA, wrote three letters on May 23 to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah urging the latter to order probe into what he said misappropriation of funds released to KKRDB.
Positively responding to Mr. Kharge’s letters, Mr. Siddaramaiah, on Monday, ordered the Chief Secretary to conduct inquiries and submit reports to him along with the details of the culprits involved in the irregularities and misappropriation of funds.
Mr. Kharge had, at a press conference in Kalaburagi a few weeks before the 2023 Assembly elections, announced his “guarantee” of making Kalaburagi corruption-free and bringing all corrupt officials, political leaders and contractors to book.
In one of the letters to the Chief Minister, Mr. Kharge made six points to explain the irregularities and misappropriation of funds under the ₹3,000 crore released to KKRDB in 2022-23.
He pointed out that KKRDB had used ₹45 crore meant for purchasing new buses for Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation for other purposes without any approval.
In the other letter, Mr. Kharge has said that ₹300 crore released to Kalyana Karnataka Human Resources, Agriculture and Cultural Society headed by BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Basavaraj Patil Sedam was misappropriated in the name of planting one crore saplings and encouraging native cow breed development.
In the third letter, Mr. Kharge has said that KKRDB officials have spent ₹4 crore as against the approved amount of ₹3.50 crore for celebrating Kalyana Karnataka Liberation Day without following the provisions of Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act 1999.
The Chief Minister, in his response to each letter, ordered the Chief Secretary to conduct inquiries and submit reports with details of all those involved in the irregularities to his office within 15 days.
Soon after Mr. Siddaramaiah ordered the inquiries, Mr. Kharge took to Facebook to welcome the Chief Minister’s decision and asserted that the Congress government will take legal action against all those involved in corruption.
“I had given my ‘guarantee’ [in addition to the Congress’ five] to take stringent action against all those who were involved in corruption. Now, it has been directed to take action against all those who were involved in corruption in the previous BJP government,” he has said in his Facebook account.
