CM Siddaramaiah’s economic adviser denies saying ‘Karnataka No.1 in corruption’, says he was misquoted

A day later, Rayareddi told a news conference that his words addressed to officials at the meeting were taken out of context by the media. “The statements made by me in the meeting regarding the quality of works in Kalyana Karnataka region were misinterpreted in the media,” he said, maintaining that he had not ranked Karnataka as “number one or two or three in corruption”.

His grievance, Rayareddi said, was that there was more corruption in works carried out in the Kalyana Karnataka region compared to the old Mysuru region. “I did not accuse any party (of corruption). It was a general statement,” he added.

On Tuesday, Rayareddi blamed corruption for the substandard work in various projects. “In the past, government buildings that used to last for five to six decades are now collapsing in just 10 years,” he said, contending that corruption was more rampant in the Kalyana Karnataka region than in other parts of the state.

At the meeting, Rayareddi asked how regional imbalance could be addressed when there was large-scale corruption. “Officials behave in the same manner as elected representatives,” he said, adding that his views about corruption “will not change irrespective of what the chief minister says”.

Following Rayareddi’s purported remarks, state BJP president B Y Vijayendra took a dig at the state government, alleging that “corruption and looting was an integral part of the Congress government”. He said that Rayareddi’s remarks have “exposed the dark face of the government”, and reduced Karnataka’s status on the global stage.

“The mask of those who accused the previous BJP government under Basavaraj Bommai of 40 per cent corruption, and misled the people, has now come off,” Vijayendra said in a post on X.