Memory and enmity are too short in politics

Bewildering as it may seem, politics always makes for strange bedfellows and the fine art of the impossible.

Call it a subtle matter of convenience or compulsion, or even a cruel twist of irony. The State Congress unit, which the other day sought the removal of BJP defectee C P Yogeeshwara from the State Cabinet for his alleged involvement in a corporate fraud, has now unashamedly recommended his reinduction into the party to the high command.

Adding further piquancy to the a la affaire is the fact that a report on State Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief G Parameshwara, taking a delegation to the Governor and submitting a memorandum in this regard, is still prominently displayed on the party’s official website. The report proudly mentions this as part of the activities carried out by Parameshwara as the State Congress chief.

This is how it goes: “On 04-10-2011, the delegation of KPCC submitted a memorandum demanding the resignation of Minister for Forests C P Yogeeshwara for his alleged involvement in corporate fraud amounting to Rs 37 crore. The minister as Managing Director of Megacity Developers & Builders Ltd (MDBL) had collected money from people promising them sites in his company’s Vajragiri township project.”

“This was done via misleading brochures and pamphlets. Following complaints by the people that their money was not refunded by MDBL even when the project had failed to take off, the registrar of co-operatives investigated the charges and filed a report with the State government. On the basis of this report, the serious fraud investigation office in the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs also ran an investigation into his affairs in 2009 and recommended criminal prosecution of the minister and the directors of MDBL in its report dated July 30, 2011.”

So much for honesty and transparency and loud proclamations over fighting corruption.