'Officials in cahoots with sand mafia': BJP gets fresh ammo as Siddaramaiah's aide flags high corruption

'Everyday, 100-150 trucks of sand and gravel are illegally transported from Koppal to the cities of Ballari, Hubballi, Dharwad, Chitradurga and Bengaluru', Basavaraj Rayareddi’s letter said.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister’s Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddi’s letter on "high corruption" involving "sand mafia" has given the Opposition BJP fresh ammunition to attack the governing Congress.

On October 18, Rayareddi wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking "immediate transfer" of officials in the mines & geology department who, he charged, were in cahoots with the 'sand mafia'.

According to Rayareddi, his Koppal district has an 85-km-long Tungabhadra river bank where large amounts of sand gets accumulated naturally.

"Everyday, 100-150 trucks of sand and gravel are illegally transported from Koppal to the cities of Ballari, Hubballi, Dharwad, Chitradurga and Bengaluru. This is causing huge losses in royalty. There's huge corruption with the involvement of officials," Rayareddi, a senior lawmaker, stated, adding that more than 200 people were involved in this 'sand mafia' in the district.

Besides naming officials, Rayareddi has asked Siddaramaiah to form a special task force under the Koppal deputy commissioner to fight the mafia.

"What more proof does Karnataka need to see how deeply corruption has eaten into the Congress government? When even the CM’s own economic adviser admits that a mafia–official nexus is looting the state’s natural wealth, it exposes the rot within CM Siddaramaiah’s administration," BJP state president BY Vijayendra said.

"Corruption has become the norm, and development has taken a back seat. Instead of cleaning up the mess, those in power have become a part of it. If the rot runs this deep in one sector, what must be happening in others?" Vijayendra asked.

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka credited Rayareddi with blowing the lid off the sand mafia. "After bankrupting Karnataka with unplanned and unscientific guarantees and openly admitting corruption, now the state itself is being plundered by a mafia-official nexus while the government watches," he said. "If the CM’s own advisor knows all this, why hasn’t any action been taken?"

Rayareddi's letter adds to the Congress' woes over corruption allegations. Last month, the Karnataka State Contractors Association wrote to Siddaramaiah saying the quantum of kickbacks, or commissions, had doubled under his government. Contractors have threatened to s