Bengaluru: Lambasting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over creation of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Saturday warned his protégé-turned-foe that he would go down in the annals of history as the leader who murdered the institution of Lokayukta.
Addressing a rally of JD (S) workers here, the former prime minister accused Mr Siddaramaiah of deliberately trying to ruin the institution of Lokayukta in his own interest and that of his ministers. "The Janata Party established the Lokayukta to tackle corruption in a big way. But Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, suddenly seems to have become afraid of this institution which was created by the party he belonged to in the past and which gave birth to him as a politician. The creation of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) shows how much he is afraid of it."
Mr Gowda and Mr Siddaramaiah were part of the ministry headed by the late Mr Ramakrishna Hegde when the institution of Lokayukta was created to fight corruption in the government.
JD(S) state president, H. D. Kumaraswamy charged Mr Siddaramaiah with heading a government of “looters.” "Most of his cabinet colleagues are involved in corrupt activities. Several ministers have been caught being corrupt on camera. But despite this, he has choosen to constitute the ACB with the sole intention of killing the Lokyukta ," he regretted, adding, "The present government is so corrupt and inefficient that it can put anyone, including the looters of the past, to shame. I thought that the BJP government of 2008-2013 was the most corrupt and inefficient, but Mr Siddarmaiah's government is even more so.”
