When the Congress government in Karnataka said on Thursday that it would scrap the controversial proposed steel flyover in Bengaluru that had met with intense protests from residents, it was not public pressure that drove its decision. It was also acting under political compulsions.
Despite huge demonstrations against the Rs 1,800-crore flyover, which would require 812 trees to be razed, the K Siddaramaiah-led government had stood by the project that was aimed at improving access to the city airport. However, after a barrage of corruption allegations against the party in February, shelving the project was the only way for it to save face.
Allegations that the state government had taken bribes to clear the flyover project had an effect well beyond the state borders, with the names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi being dragged into the row.
Congress officials in Karnataka said the pressure from the high command to “ensure the clean image of the national leadership” ahead of the state polls next year was the final blow to the project.
Ill-conceived project
The flyover project ran into trouble when protests broke out in Bengaluru in October. Activists mobilised people on grounds that the 6.9-km bridge would damage the already dwindling green cover in Bengaluru.
Ill-conceived and hurriedly put together, the idea for the flyover did not feature in any of the long-term composite urban development plans the state had drawn up over the last three years. Its launch was abrupt, with the government remaining adamant on implementing it despite public outrage.
Congress ministers took on the agitating activists and civil society groups, attributing political motives and dubbing them as elitist. Leading the attack on activists was Development Minister KJ George, who alleged that those who use “private jets” had no clue about the traffic snarls faced by the public on the roads connecting the city to the airport.
The activists managed to take the matter to the National Green Tribunal last year and get an interim stay on the project. But the government fought back strongly at the NGT as well and alongside, preparations to begin construction continued uninterrupted to ensure that the project takes off the moment the stay gets vacated.
But the death knell came in the form of a dairy found at the residence of Congress leader K Govindaraj. The diary was recovered during Income-Tax raids at Govindaraj’s home in March last year but made headlines last week, after its contents were leaked to the media.
On February 12, Bharatiya Janata Party state president BS Yeddyurappa alleged that bribes had been given several top Congress leaders to fast track the the flyover construction. Days after Yeddyurappa’s allegations, a television channel aired some pages of the diary – with notings n the form of abbreviations and amounts next to them. The diary indicated that Rs 65 crore had been paid as bribe to Congress leaders to clear the steel flyover project.
The diary also contained entries for “SG” and “RG”, which BJP leaders said referred to the offices of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. The diary contents triggered a storm on social media against the Karnataka Congress.
Possible revolt
Though the Congress dismissed the diary as fabricated and denied bribery allegations, party officials in Karnataka said the leak put party legislators in a spot in Bengaluru.
The public perception was that the government remained adamant on completing the flyover only because a few Congress leaders had received kickbacks.
On Wednesday, all legislators representing constituencies in Bengaluru met George and expressed their displeasure at the government’s insistence on completing the project. “Congress legislators later told George that if the project was not stopped, the party will be wiped out in the city in 2018,” a Congress Parliamentarian privy to the discussions said.
Karnataka is one of the handful of states in the Congress’ control and the threat of revolt by legislators ahead of the Assembly elections next year prompted Delhi to insist the flyover be dropped. Another factor that forced the hands of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the pressure from the high command. After the names of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were dragged into the corruption scandal, the leadership Delhi became uneasy.
“On Monday, the Karnataka Congress got a stern message from Ahmed Patel, political advisor to Sonia Gandhi, to clean up the mess,” the Parliamentarian said.
