Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai denies links to criminal Santro Ravi

Kumaraswamy questioned Bommai on Wednesday after local channels broadcast an audio recording of a purported conversation between Ravi and a police officer where the person identified as Santro Ravi provided assurances of facilitating a transfer of the official. ‘Ravi’ claimed to be a close associate of the CM and senior police officers in the audio recording.

“Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who always claims to have guts and courage, should speak up now. Let him order an investigation into the links between ‘Santro’ Ravi and ministers in his cabinet. Who is this Santro Ravi? What is his connection to the government? Let it be revealed,” Kumaraswamy said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“The government should reveal who provided ‘Santro’ Ravi access to the state guesthouse at Kumara Krupa until a month ago. The CM and the home minister should reveal all these things to the people of the state,” the former chief minister said.

“He has carried out all sorts of transactions from the Kumara Krupa guest house. Who is behind him? He is heard directing police officers in phone conversations to meet him to facilitate their transfers. He tells the officers to address him as Sir. He says the CM addresses him as Sir. All these things should reveal the extent to which the present government has lost its self-respect,” Kumaraswamy said.

Kumaraswamy also insinuated on Wednesday that 14 Congress and three JDS MLAs who fled to Mumbai in 2019 and forced the collapse of the JDS-Congress coalition government received services in Mumbai through people with dubious backgrounds from Karnataka.

Even as Bommai denied association with Santro Ravi, the minister for health and family welfare in the Bommai cabinet, Dr K Sudhakar questioned why Kumaraswamy has been acting in a subservient manner in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao when there are no political commonalities with the TRS. “Our CM (Bommai) is capable of giving fitting replies to all,” the health minister said.

The JDS and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi have entered into a tie-up for the 2023 Karnataka polls which is largely seen as a funding avenue for the JDS for the 2023 polls.

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