Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, on Thursday, sanctioned the government to probe a complaint against Municipal Administration and Horticulture Minister of Karnataka, Narayana Gowda. The sanction came after a disproportionate assets complaint was filed by an activist Dinesh Kallahalli who alleged that the minister had not disclosed all of his assets in his election affidavit.
Narayana Gowda was one of the MLAs who defected from the JD(S) to the BJP, toppling the Congress-JD(S) in July 2019. Dinesh had filed a complaint on January 13, 2020 with the Governor with details about the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Narayana Gowda. The alleged increase in wealth was found in an affidavit on April 23, 2018. The previous disclosure was from the past year. In a year his own wealth had reportedly gone up from Rs 24,68,148 to 5,89,98,719,
Narayana Gowda’s wife’s assets in the same period reportedly went from Rs 5,08,953 to 2,96,198. While his first daughter’s income went from Rs 2,40,759 to 22,70,586, his second daughter had gained Rs 22,44,087 from no income declared before. The complainant alleged that the increase in wealth this year was not consistent with the past figures starting from 2013 and indicated that he had resorted to immoral means to gain this wealth.
“I got to know from many of my friends in Mandya about the disproportionate increase in wealth of minister Narayana Gowda. I wanted the public to know about this and we painstakingly gathered information about his assets. Once we had gathered the necessary information, I submitted a complaint to the honorable Governor. I hope the public comes to know of his immoral ways of making money and I hope he either resigns or the Governor to strip him of his post. In a democracy, these kinds of acts must not be tolerated.” said Dinesh Kallahalli, the social activist who filed the complaint.