IS FORMER KARNATAKA chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy guilty of doing a Richard Nixon to save his government? The BJP sure believes so. On August 19, the state government, led by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, asked the CBI to investigate allegations that there was illegal tapping of phones of political leaders, their relatives and government officials during the Congress-JD(S) coalition rule under Kumaraswamy.
The scandal struck on August 8, after an audio recording of a conversation—allegedly between senior IPS officer Bhaskar Rao (now Bengaluru police commissioner) and powerbroker Faraz Ahmed, said to be close to the Congress—was leaked to the media. In the recording, the person purported to be Rao is heard lobbying for the post of city police commissioner, and seeking the “blessings” of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her former political secretary Ahmed Patel. The conversation happened sometime before Alok Kumar’s appointment as city police commissioner in June.
On August 2, the BJP government had replaced Alok Kumar with Rao, then ADGP, Karnataka State Reserve Police; Kumar had been the city’s top cop for only 47 days.
An inquiry into the leak exposed the silent tussle for plum postings in the police department, with senior officers allegedly tapping phones and leaking private conversations. On August 12, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil submitted an interim report to Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelamani N. Raju, saying that an officer of ADGP rank had a role in the case.
Soon after, there were allegations, mostly by the rebel MLAs who brought down the Congress-JD(S) government, that Kumaraswamy had also tapped their phones. Disqualified Hunsur MLA A.H. Vishwanath, who had quit as JD(S) state president before joining the rebel camp, said he always suspected their phones were being tapped. “Snooping would not have happened without the knowledge of the chief minister (Kumaraswamy),” he said.
On August 19, the state home department told the CBI to investigate the case, citing a complaint registered with the cyber crime police station in Bengaluru under section 72 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and section 26 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Earlier, Raju had recommended an investigation by an independent agency. The state government has now asked the CBI to look into all illegal phone interceptions of politicians, their relatives and government officials from August 1, 2018, till the date of the order.
Siddaramaiah tweeted that he welcomed the CBI being entrusted with the case, but added that, “In the past, the BJP has used the CBI as its puppet to unleash its venomous political vendetta.” He said that the CBI should also investigate Operation Lotus, under which the BJP allegedly lured MLAs to resign.
Some Congress and JD(S) leaders have also sought an inquiry into all the allegations of phone tapping in the past 15 years. “Let the CBI probe include the happenings in the tenures of Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah, too,” said Kumaraswamy. “Soon, everyone will stand exposed.”
According to police sources, more than 6,000 calls on at least 185 phones were tapped since April 2019. While the police legally tap phones of terror suspects or anti-social elements after following due process—they have to submit a written order (signed by the home secretary) to the service providers—the magnitude of the current scandal has raised concerns about the state infringing on the privacy of individuals.
The political fallout is a whole other matter. To begin with, the controversy might affect the future of the JD(S)-Congress alliance and expose the fault-lines within the Congress. While many in the Congress backed an investigation into the allegations, Vokkaliga strongman D.K. Shivakumar, known to be close to Kumaraswamy, has denied that there was any phone tapping.
As for the alliance, several Congress leaders were said to be unhappy with the coalition as both parties have been arch-rivals. The lure of a combined vote share has kept them together.
Siddaramaiah has always been at loggerheads with Kumaraswamy, and the presence of the former’s loyalists among the rebels has raised doubts about his role in the coup.
The BJP government, on the other hand, has a thin majority—106 of 207 seats—and needs to win enough seats in the upcoming byelections. Former speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 rebel MLAs under the anti-defection law, thereby necessitating the byelections. While the rebels have challenged the speaker’s ruling in the Supreme Court, a CBI probe could reveal the silent operators behind Operation Lotus and the “circumstances” that led to the BJP coming to power.
JD(S) founder H.D. Deve Gowda also reminded Yediyurappa of a recorded conversation of the latter—allegedly making an offer to a JD(S) MLA to topple the coalition—which had created a furore in the assembly earlier this year. Then chief minister Kumaraswamy had ordered a probe by a special investigation team; the SIT is yet to be constituted.
“Kumaraswamy did not pursue the case,” said Deve Gowda. “But the BJP is obsessed with the phone-tapping case even as north Karnataka is reeling under unprecedented floods. It is a case of misplaced priority. The BJP claims Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] and Home Minister [Amit Shah] had advised them to seek a CBI probe. But [they] are handling the Article 370 issue in Kashmir.”
Interestingly, Deve Gowda was one of the dissidents in the Janata Party when chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde was accused of phone-tapping in 1988. At the time, Gowda was the thorn in Hegde’s side, and the latter stepped down after the matter was raised in Parliament.
The recent political developments in Karnataka indicate that the alleged phone tapping could have been a desperate measure to save the coalition government. Growing dissidence, lack of coordination between allies, the impending threat of Operation Lotus and the fear of losing the Lok Sabha elections could all have been triggers.
The phone-tapping allegations have also marred the image of the state police. “Fear of transfers and punishment postings, and the lure of plum postings have reduced police officers to minions of political parties,” said a retired IPS officer who wants the Supreme Court-mandated police reforms of 2006, which would reduce political interference in the police department. “It shows the officers can go to any extent to bag top posts. Phone-tapping for political purposes is not just unethical, but also illegal.”