Koujalagi episode, a blow to Karnataka Cong.

By S.K. Ramoo

BANGALORE, APRIL 7. The resignation of the KPCC president, Mr. V.S. Koujalagi, appeared inevitable following a Tehelka-like revelation in which a video camera had allegedly caught him accepting a wad of notes by way of bribe, in Belgaum.

The Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, told The Hindu that Mr. Koujalagi had submitted his resignation so as not to cause embarrassment to the party.

The case pertained to favouring of a contractor for getting work from the Belgaum Zilla Panchayat in 1999. The State Lokayukta had registered the case against him. The so-called ``clinching evidence'' of Mr. Koujalagi reportedly accepting the bribe on two separate occasions, which was videographed, was said to be in possession of the Lokayukta.

However, it is surprising that the Lokayukta has not completed the investigation even after two years. This has led to public perception that the Lokayukta was ``pressured'' or dragging its feet on the investigation. The Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, has stoutly defended Mr. Koujalagi, probably based on the latter's assertion that he was innocent and was not involved in any scandal. Mr. Koujalagi, from the beginning, has been vehemently denying the allegation. He has accused the State BJP of trying to defame him in an orchestrated campaign. He rushed to Delhi, summoned by the party leadership, to personally offer his explanation to Ms. Ambika Soni, the AICC general secretary in- charge of Karnataka, and to the party high command. The central leadership initially accepted his assertion, but latter changed its mind.

The lid was actually blown off, when two newspapers on Saturday published photographs of the videographed film of Mr. Koujalagi allegedly accepting a bundle of currency notes. Both papers reproduced excerpts of the conversation Mr. Koujalagi had with an associate of the contractor. It was difficult for Mr. Koujalagi to wriggle out of the so-called ``corroborative evidence''.

The Chief Minister, who had a decisive say in the appointment of Mr. Koujalagi as the KPCC chief, and the State party leadership were shouting from the roof tops, demanding the resignation of the Vajpayee Government and registration of cases against those found ``guilty'' in the Tehelka tapes. Both the State and Central party leadership appeared to have experienced utter mortification over the incident. Although the incident is related to the Congress State unit, this was the first major scandal that has come to the open during the 18-month regime of Mr. S.M. Krishna. Incidentally, Mr. George Fernandes, the former Defence Minister, who is the coordinator of the NDA, at a public meeting addressed by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, on Thursday in Bangalore, ridiculed the Congress leadership over the involvement of Mr. Koujalagi in the scandal.

The central leadership has attempted belatedly the damage-control exercise. But the incident has severely dented the image of the State Congress. It was a definite setback to its rising popularity on the eve of the municipal and local body elections to be held next month. For Mr. Koujalagi, a former Speaker of the Assembly and a former Minister, elected for the sixth time to the Assembly from Arabhavi in Belgaum in the last Assembly elections, the scandal appears to be the end of his political ascendancy. It will be difficult for him to salvage his ``tarnished'' image.

Mr. Krishna is said to have played a vital role in the selection of Mr. Koujalagi as the KPCC president. This was mainly because he was totally loyal to him. This reportedly enabled the Chief Minister to have a say in the State party affairs. It is a political setback to the Chief Minister, who recently received rich accolades from the party president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, for the ``exemplary'' organisation of the two-day plenary session of the Congress party in Bangalore. The unsavoury circumstances that compelled Mr. Koujalagi to submit his resignation is a damper to the State party leadership.

'I will abide by party decision'

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