Scandals that blighted the otherwise illustrious careers of stalwart Karnataka Chief Ministers

Several of Siddaramaiah's predecessors have also been through similar turmoil. DH’s Sujay B M looks back at some scandals that shook the state’s politics.

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is not alone in the predicament he faces as the Lokayukta and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigate him. Several of his predecessors have also been through similar turmoil. DH’s Sujay B M looks back at some scandals that shook the state’s politics.

Kengal Hanumanthaiah (1952-56)

Kengal Hanumanthaiah

Renowned for his visionary role in the construction of Vidhana Soudha, it is ironic that Hanumanthaiah was embroiled in a scam over excessive expenditure while building the same. A committee of Justice P P Deo and two others was formed and supposedly submitted its report on December 30, 1956. It is said to have been critical of Hanumanthaiah’s cost management.

Devaraj Urs (1972-80)

Devaraj Urs

Known as the champion of the backward classes, Devaraj Urs got into trouble in May 1977, when the A N Grover Commission was formed to probe allegations of corruption, favouritism and misuse of power against him. The Urs government formed its own commission under Mir Iqbal Hussain, though it was ruled illegal by the High Court. In 1979, the Grover Commission indicted Urs of corruption and abuse of power. The union government passed on the report to the Karnataka government for “follow-up” action.

R Gundu Rao (1980-83)

R Gundu Rao

Dashing R Gundu Rao got into a scam in November 1980 when the government froze new building plans. While leading builders were made to stop construction, there were accusations of erratic supply of cement. A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by S R Bommai accused Gundu Rao of irregular allotment of 4,000 tonnes of cement. Nine of the 15 members of the committee were from Gundu Rao’s Congress (I) itself.

Ramakrishna Hegde (1983-88)

Ramakrishna Hegde

Suave and a darling of the media, Hegde landed in trouble in 1984, when applications were invited for arrack bottling contracts. Rejected applicants went to court, where it was ruled in February 1986 that the awarding of contracts was “a flagrant violation of the rule of law”. Hegde resigned, but resumed office within 11 days. In February 1988, the Bangalore Development Authority reportedly sold 110 acres of land worth Rs 130 crore to an NRI housing association for Rs 2.2 crore. As per media reports, Hegde’s government changed its housing priorities to make the allotment. Hegde’s relatives are said to have cornered a prime piece of land in Bengaluru, through the firm Revajeetu Builders. The Kuldip Singh commission investigated the allegations and submitted its report on June 22, 1990, eventually leading to Hegde’s resignation as the planning commission’s deputy chairman. 

S Bangarappa (1990-92)

S Bangarappa

Hailing from a socialist background, Bangarappa, in 1991-92, was accused in the Classik Computer System scam along with then chief secretary J Alexander. A contract to supply 100 Apple Macintosh computers was awarded at an ‘exorbitant’ Rs. 5.71 lakh per unit. Bangarappa was the first Karnataka CM to be investigated by the CBI. While the chargesheet reportedly mentioned that Bangarappa and Alexander received kickbacks from the firm Classik Computer, the duo was acquitted by a CBI special court in September 2003.

Veerappa Moily (1992-94)

M Veerappa Moily

Bangarappa’s immediate successor Veerappa Moily, also a backward classes leader and author, found himself in a CBI chargesheet in the 1993 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bribery case. JMM MPs were allegedly bribed to vote against a no-confidence motion against the P V Narasimha Rao government. Moily, H M Revanna and Ramalinga Reddy were accused of mobilising the money. They were acquitted by a CBI court in September 2000.

B S Yediyurappa (2008-11, 2019-21)

B S Yediyurappa

Yediyurappa is the first BJP chief minister in Karnataka and is widely credited for his party’s growth in the state. When he was the DCM in 2006, his sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra reportedly bought 1.12 acres of land from former MLA S N Krishnaiah Shetty by paying Rs 20 lakh each. When Yediyurappa became the CM in 2008, Shetty’s application for denotification of the land was cleared by Yediyurappa.

On November 22, 2010, Yediyurappa’s sons sold the land at Rs 20 crore to M/s South West Mining Ltd. In 2011, a corruption case was filed against Yediyurappa on the Rs 20-crore land deal probed by the CBI. In 2011, he resigned as CM and was arrested. He was acquitted by a special court in 2016. There have been approximately 45 FIRs against Yediyurappa, mostly on land denotification. A POCSO Act case and one on Gangenahalli denotification are pending, while others have been quashed.

H D Kumaraswamy (2006-07 and 2018-19)

H D Kumaraswamy

In 2007, when Kumaraswamy headed the BJP-JD(S) alliance government, he was accused of bypassing the mineral concession rules while granting a mining lease to Sri Sai Venkateshwara Minerals. Kumaraswamy was arrested in 2015 and later, released on bail. In November 2023, the Lokayukta Special Investigation Team sought the Governor’s sanction to prosecute Kumaraswamy in this case.

Siddaramaiah (2013-18, 2023-)

Siddaramaiah

The only CM after Devaraj Urs to complete a full 5-year term, Siddaramaiah first faced major corruption allegations in the Arkavathy Layout re-do scheme during his first term (2013-2018). He was accused of ordering denotification of land. The Justice H S Kempanna Commission was constituted, but its report was never made public. In his second term now, Siddaramaiah faces a court-ordered Lokayukta investigation in connection with his wife Parvathi getting 14 expensive plots in Mysuru. The ED, too, has booked him in a money laundering case.