Politics has hit the 'nadir': Lokayukta

Karnataka Lokayukta justice N Santosh Hegde on Tuesday said that the ongoing political drama in the state was shameful.

“It is shocking that candidates spend `2-3 crore to get elected as municipal corporators,  `5-6 crore as MLAs and `10-12 crore as MPs. Is this the amount one has to pay to serve the people? If one wants to serve the people, put the amount in a bank and use it for the welfare of people,” justice Hegde said.

The Lokayukta was speaking at a lecture on ‘Causes and Implications of Corruption’, organised by department of management studies, Indian Institute of Science.

Justice Hegde lamented that politics was seen as an investment which yielded good returns. “This is astonishing. If this is the scenario then why vote?” he asked.

He said that instead of thinking of making money, politicians should work honestly. “There are many urgent files pending with the government for clearance. Earlier, all work and files were dealt with by the bureaucrats, but now the scenario is such that all the files are cleared by the ministers. Ironically, the signature that gives the final approval will be of a secretary. If anything goes wrong, the secretary takes the rap,” the Lokayukta said.

Calling for a collective effort to wipe out corruption, the Lokayukta said that the only weapon against corrupt ministers and officers was to ask questions.

“One may not be able to fight corruption individually as those who are corrupt are  powerful. So there is a need for a collective body to fight corruption and also inform the Lokayukta. Also, people should vote for the right candidate,” justice Hegde said.