Karnataka government at halfway mark: Mixed bag of guarantees’ bravado & ‘scams galore’

Bengaluru: The Congress government completes two and a half years in office on Thursday without brouhaha in what has been a first-half where politics dimmed any and all policy brilliance. 

The five ‘guarantee’ schemes - a pioneering effort towards universal basic income - stand out as an achievement of a government that has spent much of its time dousing internal and external fires. 

Politically, the halfway mark of the government was a much-awaited milestone that would cause the unravelling of the leadership tussle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, a topic that has hovered over the Congress government since it was formed on May 20, 2023. 

Senior Congress leaders wanting ministers in Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet changed on the grounds of performance is a testament to how underwhelming governance has been, despite having a mandate huge enough to shake up the system for good.  

“There are fewer achievements and more slips in terms of the Siddaramaiah’s handling of the politically significant issues,” says political analyst Harish Ramaswamy, giving the government four on a scale of 10. 

“Policy-wise, I see not much progress. It’s more about the guarantees. Yes, they’ve impacted life, but not life-changing,” Ramaswamy says, pointing out that the government hiked various taxes and levies.

He recounts the embezzlement of taxpayerws’ money at Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation, the MUDA scam, ‘diversion’ of SC/ST funds and the regulating of the use of public places, which made the government busy “clarifying its blunders”. 

Ramaswamy also believes that the Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar tussle “could have been avoided” by Congress, given the party’s political maturity. 

But not everybody is this harsh towards the Congress government.

‘Not all is negative’

Political consultant Venkatesh Thogarighatta lists out many ‘hits’ by the government. Among them is the government’s push for big-ticket infrastructure projects, especially for Bengaluru.

“Full credit to the government to have shaken up the much-needed mega projects for Bengaluru from deep slumber,” he says. 

Thogarighatta counts as ‘hits’ the guarantee schemes, completion of the first phase of the Yettinahole project, the SSLC exam reforms, investment attraction and more.

Having said that, Thogarighatta says that the government missed “a good opportunity to create reasonable hope” among citizens by taking up short-term to medium-term infrastructure projects.

Pothole-filling, for example. “The government doesn’t have much to show in the first half of its tenure as its focus has largely been on long-term things. This will have its negative effect on the rating,” he says. 

Thogarighatta feels that most departments “are quiet” with neither real initiatives nor noise. “Except Bengaluru development, irrigation, revenue, industries and education, the others are in deep slumber,” he says.