Watch-dog's life: an ode to Lokayukta

Thank god, the BJP leaders dared not to swear before the lord when Lokayukta openly said they had tried to influence him to exclude chief minister’s name from his second report on illegal mining. On the other hand, they admitted they had met Justice Santhosh Hegde many times, while sheepishly saying they did not discuss the issue.

Yeddyurappa is pretending innocence. Or is he enjoying the corruption watch dog’s fall from grace as it suits his scheme of things to control the institution?

He is scheming to keep Lokayukta position vacant for a while, after Hegde retires on 3 Aug, and bringing in an IAS officer as registrar, the post otherwise is judicial, by changing rules. After the position getting maligned so much, people might not bother if the government forgets to appoint Lokayukta. And the chief minister, neck deep in corruption charges, can breathe easy with his man Upa-Lokayukta calling shots.

But, the question is: why Hegde took more than two months to reveal it? An explanation is that he was upset over Dhananjaya Kumar, spokesperson of the BJP; going around saying he had fixed the Lokayukta for the CM. Kumar was the one who led the BJP delegation to the Lokayukta , and the common man didn’t know the duo were Tulu- speaking buddies ailing from the same native, till Hegde said it. He lamented Kumar had taken advantage of the friendship, while warning him not to appear at his doorsteps again.

Hegde sounded quite valiant, when he reprimanded the BJP leader. But, was it fine for him, if Kumar was tight-lipped about the encounter and the attempted wheeling-dealing? We wouldn’t have known a thing about it, if the spokesperson didn’t wag the tongue. So, don’t we thank him for that?

The Lokayukta has many cases of catching the corrupt red-handed to his credit. MLA Y Sampangi was caught while accepting bribe and councilor Katta Jagadisgh Niadu was nabbed for offering the bribe. But, why Dhanajaya Kumar and team did walk free after offering a deal to the very Lokayukta? They could have booked under Prevention of Corruption Act or otherwise under IPC section 161. Alas, the crusader against the corruption is the culprit now. Hedge is liable to be punished under IPC 202 as the concealing an offence is a bigger offence.

Hegdes’ story is a Hamletian tragedy. He was in a ‘to-be-or-not-be’ state of mind to conduct raids on the corrupt, when he took office in 2006. He was right when he said the Lokayukta Act did not permit to conduct raids on the corrupt and he would not go to the media unlike his predecessor Justice N Venkatachala. But, this gave him a dull image as against a heroic predecessor. Bowing to the onslaught of criticism, he started doing a Venkatachala and the media readily took him on lap. Once tasted the blood, there was no looking back for Hegde.

But, seemingly it went into his head. There is no other explanation for a reticent Hegde transforming into an aggressively barking watchdog. The government took in its stride even when he was a bit unreasonable in attacking the system. Giving him the title of ‘an opposition party’ was a milder repartee.

The flashpoint reached when he resigned protesting political intervention in the probing of illegal mining, last year. The anti-climax came soon when he took it back at the behest of L K Advani. Icing on the disgust is to call the BJP leader “a Father figure.” And that was the lowest point of Lokayukta N Santhosh Hegde.

He was about to be seen as Sachin Tedulkar of Anna Hazare team, when the joint draft committee was formed to draft Lokpal Bill, with the captain was a village bumpkin with little knowledge about the law making. But, Hegde turned out to be a Sreesanth with easily falling prey to the sledging of Digvijay Singh. He offered to resign attracting the media limelight and retracted after the lights went off.

While the government is yet to act on his first report on illegal mining, the second is expected to be more significant and explosive because it is coming in the wake of sensational Belekere ore theft and many politicians are to be exposed. When he missed his self-imposed deadline of 31 March, Hegde pointed at the other agencies- CBI, CEC, ED, and I-T department- probing into thethe same issue, and he didn’t want his report overlapping with those of them. After missing a series of deadllines thereafter, he is expected to submit the report just two days before his retirement. What is the fun, if he is not there to follow it up, and no one is there to replace him?

People virtually worshipped Venkatachala and Santhosh Hegde because they were the symbols of their pride. Commanmen enjoyed the heroes taking on the corrupt. Venakatachala was ‘the man on the year’ on all possible forums, year after year, so long as he was the Lokayukta. Santhosh Hegde took his place, and every New Year started with him accepting ‘the man of the year’ award.

And what these demy- gods did at the end? The former joined the BJP soon after his retirement and the latter shown he was with the BJP just before his retirement.

But, the people will forgive this betrayal because Kannadigas are kind- hearted. Jai Karnataka!