Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Jul 8: It is gathered that those who had made high claims and posed challenges in the matter of vesting more powers to the Lokayukta, turned skeptical when the moment to take a final decision came.

The Chief Minister, it is learnt, had initially had planned to convene a cabinet meeting before meeting the opposition leaders on the issue on Wednesday July 7. As some of the ministers expressed their opposition to the move to give sweeping powers to the Lokayukta when consulted by the Chief Minister, the cabinet meeting did not materialize, it is said.

While opposition leaders, Siddaramaiah, Revanna and Nanaiah, strongly supported the move to give the Lokayukta powers to conduct raids and subject Chief Minister, ministers, legislators and senior officials to investigation, Motamma, leader of the opposition in the legislative council, struck a discordant note. She felt that giving more powers to Lokayukta will enable the government to misuse his office, and that Lokayukta can be used as a platform to subdue political rivals.  While agreeing that Justice N Santosh Hegde is a good man, she said his successors might be amenable to the plots hatched by the ruling party. She therefore strongly felt that the Chief Minister, ministers and legislators should be kept out of the purview of the Lokayukta, while giving her consent to vesting powers to the Lokayukta with powers to investigate corrupt officials, it is learnt.