Bengaluru: A day after IAS officer D. K. Ravi was laid to rest, his mother Gowramma, inconsolable about the need for a CBI probe, was leading a sit-in at the entrance to the Vidhana Soudha.
By her side was her feisty daughter Bharathi, her angry son D K Ramesh and her broken husband Kariyappa, who didn’t seem to have any fight left in him.
But the steady stream of politicians who came to them in a bid to extract as much political mileage as possible, made it clear that the mysterious death of this daring civil servant had turned into a political battle between JD (S) and Congress on the one hand , and the BJP and the Congress on the other. The Kengal Hanumanthaiah statue was at the centre of it all on Wednesday.
DK Ravi’s family, caught policemen off guard as they arrived in the car of JD (S) legislator D Nagarajaiah and launched a sit-in, refusing to budge until Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came to meet them and agree to announce a CBI probe, threatening a mass family suicide on Thursday morning, unless he gave in to their demand.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, reluctant to step out and meet Ravi’s kin, discussed the knotty issue with his cabinet but made up his mind once energy minister D. K. Shivakumar arrived with Ravi’s father-in-law Hanumantharayappa, a Congressman.
Offering comfort to the IAS officer’s kin, the CM finally promised to take a decision on their demand in four or five days, explaining how the government was yet to receive a report of post mortem examination and other reports. He also pleaded that he could not make an announcement when the legislature session was under way.
The officer’s kin, however, dug their heels in and pointed at media reports, indicating mischievous reports about the officer’s personal life. Mr Siddaramaiah asked them not to go by media reports and that he would convey only the truth to them. They, however, insisted on a CBI probe though even Mr Nagarajaiah advised them to heed to the Chief Minister’s plea for time.
Minutes after Mr Siddaramaiah returned to his office, leaders of Opposition parties—Mr Jagadish Shettar and Mr. K S Eshwarappa from the BJP, and the JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy arrived to express support to the family, stoking tensions outside the Vidhana Soudha.
The officer’s kin left only after they won an assurance from Opposition leaders that they would keep the pressure on the state government for a CBI probe, but not before Mr Kumaraswamy took potshots at Mr. Siddaramaiah, clearly indicating that the game of political one-upmanship was on.
As Mrs Gowramma who had said, “I cannot believe a son I gave birth to would take his own life,” said at the end of the day: “After losing my son, I don’t know whom to believe. Should I believe you now?”
