Scams prompted CM Siddaramaiah to come up with ACB?

Bengaluru: The Hublot wrist watch controversy and Governor Vajubhai Vala returning Justice S.R. Nayak’s nomination to the Lokayukta reportedly prompted the chief minister’s camp to come up with the idea of Anti-Corruption Bureau. The architects of the ACB are retired police officer M. Kempaiah and party leader V.S. Ugrappa.

Speaking to DC, a senior leader in the CM’s camp disclosed that in fact, it was Mr Kempaiah who first gave the idea of forming the ACB to Mr Siddaramaiah when Leader of the opposition Jagadish Shettar launched an attack on the CM over Arkavathy redo scam almost one and half years ago.

“Mr Kempaiah was reportedly pressurising Mr Siddaramaiah to form ACB since then. But it never took shape until close aide of Mr Siddarmaiah, V.S. Ugrappa, entered the scene,” the source said.

Mr Ugrappa came into the picture at a time when the Congress wanted to impeach Upalokayukta Justice Subhash Adi.

“After it was quietly decided that the Upalokayukta be removed from his position after the exit of Justice Y. Bhaskar Rao, Mr Ugrappa apparently gave a fresh lease of life to the idea of ACB. But Mr Siddaramaiah was still not ready to accept it,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Mr Siddaramaiah’s camp came up with another plan to appoint Justice S.R. Nayak as Lokayukta. But that too got stuck with the Governor, who returned the file.

“Even as the CM camp was failing in many of its plans to weaken the Lokayukta, the wristwatch controversy came as the last nail in the coffin. In a desperate move, the CM’s camp decided to implement their plan of forming the ACB. Mr Siddarmaiah fell for it and decided to take the opinion from Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra, who decided to give it a shape after consulting a few legal experts. And the ACB was born,” the source said.