Corruption has sullied Karnataka’s image: Krishna

MYSORE - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, credited with turning Bangalore into an IT hub when he was Karnataka chief minister, said Saturday that recent scandals have hurt the state’s image.

“In the past Karnataka was held in high respect both at national and international levels with Brand Bangalore as the country’s IT and BT (biotechnology) capital,” he told reporters here.

“These days the image has been been hit due to corruption at high levels,” he said, in an obvious reference to alleged favoured prime land allotments by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to his kin.

Krishna expressed fears that the scandals would deter foreign investors from investing in the state.

On Yeddyurappa deciding on a probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into all land deals in the last 16 years, Krishna said all transactions during his chief ministership (1999-2004) were transparent.

Yeddyurappa has defended the allotment to his kin as well as ‘denotifying’ (freeing from government control) lands saying the same had been done by previous chief ministers, including Krishna, as well.

Krishna had earlier rubbished Yeddyurappa’s claims on land denotification during his tenure, saying he had denotified the lands for projects like the construction of outer ring road in Bangalore and for utilisation by government agencies like Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB).