Congress unbeatable if party, government work in tandem: Dinesh Gundurao

When there are more political controversies to handle, it’s a party spokesperson like Dinesh Gundurao who has to bear the brunt. The food and civil supplies minister is busy firefighting the PU question paper leak and the Anwar Manippady report row besides the controversial decision to constitute the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Mr Gundurao said if the party and government work in tandem, no one can prevent the Congress from coming back to power in 2018.

Let’s begin with the PU chemistry paper leak? Why did the government not apologise to students and parents?

Primary education minister Kimmane Rathnakar did apologise on the floor of the House and Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah regretted the inconvenience caused to students. We said we would take action against those involved. The minister said he would quit if this is repeated a third time. It is a sensitive subject no doubt. Both students and parents will take it emotionally. Definitely there is a flaw in the system. I think we should set right the system. We should take very strict action against those involved and it would act as a strong deterrent.

One of the IAS officers who was caught with crores of rupees at home remains untouched. But Pallavi Akurati, who had taken over the PU board a month back, was shunted out. What kind of message will the government send across with such an action?

People wanted some response from the government. Rame Gowda a senior officer has been posted there (PU Board). Even I do not think she (Pallavi Akurati) was involved in this mess. In hindsight, they (the government) could have avoided changing the head when examinations were round the corner. What we can do is- once the examinations are over, we could take action against those in the system for long.

After the second leak, the minister said he will stay in Bengaluru and oversee the examination preparations. He should have done this immediately after the first leak. Doesn’t it clearly show that he faltered?

No, not really. He (Kimmane Rathnakar) took steps to ensure the exam was conducted smoothly. No one expected this would happen a second time. Now, he has sent out a strong signal.

Moving on, the decision to constitute the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has sent signals that whenever the Congress comes to power, it systematically weakens institutions to encourage corruption.

We have not withdrawn the powers of the Lokayukta. If it wants to investigate a case, the Lokayukta can take the help of CID or ACB. Today the Lokayukta institution has collapsed not due to the police, but due to various developments happened inside. In the ACB, I do not see any harm. There are seventeen thousand cases pending with the Lokayukta. We only talk about high profile cases. There are thousands of cases involving the tahsildars and local officers which hurt people. These

should be sorted out. I can agree that the timing of launching the ACB was wrong. Separating work may strengthen the Lokayukta. What we can do is
let ACB investigate the corruption cases and let Lokayukta monitor it. Nothing wrong in it. Congress is the one which brought in the Right to Information Act, the Aaadhar card and so many schemes at the national level. We are not the ones who encourage corruption.

See the situation now. The ACB is attached to DPAR which is with the Chief Minister and the intelligence department is also with him. Using the inputs given by the intelligence department, the CM can engage in political vendetta against his opponents through the ACB...

In Lokayukta too, politically motivated cases were foisted on people. It is highly unlikely that you can get a 100 per cent fool-proof system.

One of the arguments of your government is that 18 states have ACBs, so there is nothing wrong in Karnataka having one. But the fact is: in those 18 states, corruption has not come down.

If you are saying that in 18 states, corruption has not come down, my question is: Did corruption come down in Karnataka because of the Lokayukta? If good people run the Lokayukta or ACB, then these institutions will work effectively. Our idea is, there should be checks and balances. One institution should not have too much power. Why did Karnataka Lokayukta fail? Because, it had too much powers. Officials attached with Lokayukta used to blackmail.

Many felt instead of constituting an ACB, you could have brought a comprehensive amendment to the Lokayukta Act to overcome the pitfalls in the system?

We tried to bring a comprehensive amendment, opposition parties stalled the move. Perhaps, we have to bring one now. I concur with the chief minister on the constitution of ACB. We posted good IPS officers to ACB. Give us some time, then check how the ACB is working.

Finally, the issue of Congress legislators meeting and voicing their grievances. Why are Dinesh Gundurao and R. Ramalinga Reddy upset with legislators?

We are not upset. You should remember they are our good friends. The CM wanted to carry out a reshuffle even before the ZP and TP polls. There were some issues, so it was delayed. It is bound to happen. Legislators coming out in the open and saying that 25 ministers should be dropped would send a wrong message. What is their intention? My point is there is no need to discuss these issues in public. This should be done within the party forum.

Who is behind this?

I do not know. It might be spontaneous. They wanted to keep it closed door, but the matter might have gone out of hand. But we should not allow this to happen. What if another group starts such activity tomorrow? After doing a good job, we got headlines for unnecessary issues like the D.K. Ravi suicide or the Hublot watch issue. No dissident activity happened, No one went to New Delhi. Even the Anwar Manippady report too did not happen in our time. It is a different issue that it was prepared in Keshava Krupa (RSS ehadquarters) . If the BJP was so serious, they could have gone to court or a police station. They wanted to defame Congress leaders, so the RSS leaders prepared a report. All these have nothing to do with our government. We have not committed the kind of disasters the BJP committed.

Leave aside the Anwar Manippady report. Last week, Upa Lokayukta Justice Anand gave a report on encroachment of wakf properties. It was rejected because it listed the names of senior Congress leaders.

Sorry, I do not know the content of it.

Finally, do you think the issues raised by legislators can be sorted out?

Yes. We have to move carefully. We have to involve legislators, instil confidence among them and at the same time, we have to reorganise the party. These are all part of the political strategy. It is quite natural that leaders and legislators have ambitions. But we have to balance it and it should happen within the party forum. Senior leaders should sit together and work out a right strategy. Party and government need to understand the situation and work together. We have a good leader in Siddaramaiah. He has given good administration so far. I think we have to consult seniors and work. Under the present situation, no unilateral decision should be taken.