New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday sharpened his attack on the Congress government in Karnataka over alleged irregularities in Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitments and asked Rahul Gandhi to raise the matter with the same intensity as he took up the NEET issue.
Stating that the controversy was now being discussed at the national level and was damaging Karnataka’s image, he asked Gandhi to visit Bengaluru to meet young people affected by the controversy.
“Rahul Gandhi travels across the country carrying the book on the Constitution and engaging with students and youngsters. He should come to Bengaluru and sit with the KPSC-affected youth. He should hear their grievances and understand for himself what is happening under his party’s government in Karnataka,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.
He urged Rahul Gandhi to take up the KPSC issue with the same intensity with which he had raised the NEET paper leak controversy.
“You raised the NEET issue and fought for students. I appeal to you to do the same for Karnataka’s youngsters affected by the KPSC controversy. Come to Bengaluru, meet them and hear them directly,” he said.
The CID is probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment examination, including the handling of examination records and OMR sheets, as well as the role of officials and others involved.
The Union minister said that Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge could not disclaim responsibility for irregularities in the recruitment of Assistant Executive Engineers (Grade-I), which took place while Kharge headed the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department.
Kumaraswamy cited allegations that candidates were lodged at resorts, supplied question papers in advance and that OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheets were manipulated, arguing that a minister could not plausibly be unaware of developments in a department under his own charge.
Referring to allegations that candidates for the recruitment process sat for the examination at a resort rather than a conventional centre, Kumaraswamy said such a practice, if true, would amount to an unusual precedent, adding sarcastically that Kharge deserved credit for pioneering the arrangement.
He alleged that question papers had been passed on to candidates who had paid money, and called it a failure of the state government.
Kumaraswamy also criticised Kharge’s conduct since taking charge of the Home portfolio, alleging that his focus had shifted toward attacking the RSS rather than attending to his ministerial responsibilities.
Responding to Kharge’s demand that he substantiate his claims with evidence, Kumaraswamy said he had repeatedly placed documentation in the public domain, including an investigation report, OMR sheets he alleged had been tampered with using carbon and a sub-committee report.
He noted that the chief minister had also responded in the Assembly on irregularities concerning the selection of Assistant Executive Engineers in the Rural Development Department.
Kumaraswamy also referenced the Constitution, telling Kharge – who frequently invokes it in his public remarks – to consult his father and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge if he required clarity on how constitutional institutions function.
He said his criticism stemmed from the allegations and evidence in the case rather than personal animosity toward Kharge, and that he did not seek the minister’s political retirement, only a transparent probe and accountability for those found responsible.
Kumaraswamy also raised the case of IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, the former KPSC Examination Controller who was arrested by the CID in connection with the recruitment case.
He questioned the state government’s account of Gangwar’s movements – from Delhi to Chennai and eventually a resort near Devanahalli – before he was brought back, saying the sequence of events raised questions that the government needed to answer.
Kumaraswamy also questioned the state government over the appointment of former KPSC Chairman Shyam Bhat, referring to allegations from Bhat’s earlier tenure at the Bengaluru Development Authority, and asked Kharge, who was a minister in the cabinet at the time, to explain the basis for the appointment. PTI LUX RT RT
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