A tit-for-tat cycle of political vendetta involving the dirty tricks departments of former chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy,which has dragged the two leaders political parties BJP and JD(S),their families wives,sons,daughters,brothers among others in a downward spiral hit a speed breaker on Friday. A single judge of the Karnataka High Court quashed proceedings in two private complaints of corruption filed in a Lokayukta court against JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy as being motivated by political vendetta and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on Vinod Kumar,a lawyer associated with the BJP who was used to file the complaints. Justice V Jaganathan quashed the complaints that alleged that Kumaraswamy,when he was chief minister between 2006 and 2007,allowed a private firm Jantakal Mines to lift iron ore against the advice of government officials and that he allotted land to a private housing co-operative society called Vishwabharati Society in return for a site in his wife Anitas name. The judge quashed the proceedings on grounds that the complainant did not produce certified documents to support the complaint or a sanction from the Governor as required to prosecute a former chief minister. Kumaraswamys advocates had argued that it was politically motivated,that an order favouring Jantakal Mines and the housing society was issued on directions of the courts and that his wife was a member of the housing society much before the allotment of land was made. The court said the provision for private complaints cannot be allowed to be used for vendetta. It ordered Vinod Kumar to pay Rs 50,000 each to Kumaraswamy and his wife. The court also said that the special Lokayukta court that took cognizance of the complaints had not applied its mind in handling the case. The complaints against Kumaraswamy and his wife were filed by supporters of Yeddyurappa after two lawyers,Sirajin Basha and K N Balraj,propped up by JD(S),obtained sanction in January this year from Governor H R Bhardwaj to prosecute Yeddyurappa who was the then Chief Minister. The two advocates,with backing of the JD(S),filed a series of five corruption complaints,with extensive documentation under the RTI,against Yeddyurappa. Yeddyurappa was arrested on October 15 in connection with two of these complaints. The cases against Yeddyurappa forced members of his family,including his two sons,daughters and a son-in-law apart from sundry relatives to appear in the dock for accused persons in the courts. In what is believed to be retaliatory tactics,cases were filed against Kumaraswamy and his family members in different forums by Yeddyurappas aides. Among the cases currently being traced to Yeddyurappa aides is a complaint of disproportionate assets amounting to Rs 500 crore filed against Kumaraswamys elder brother H D Balakrishna Gowda,a case alleging conspiracy between Kumaraswamy,BJP leader Ananth Kumar and Governor Bhardwaj to bring down Yeddyurappa,and most recently,a petition accusing Kumaraswamy of bigamy.
