Sasikanth Senthil, the Karnataka cadre IAS officer accused of corruption, who quit the service saying ‘democracy was in danger’, announced on Sunday (November 8) that he was joining the Congress party.
The 2009-batch IAS officer resigned from service on September 6, 2019 saying that he felt ‘unethical to continue as a civil servant in the government when the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner’.
In a statement issued by the officer of Sunday, he said that he has decided to join the Congress party in an effort to continue his fight as an activist.
“In this one year, I had an opportunity to experience the spirit of India. I had met some of the best human beings that I had ever seen in my life. I had visited many places, participated in many protests, interacted with young and courageous students, stood hand in hand with people who had nothing but love in their heart. I was able to contribute my bit to the great anti-NRC/CAA movement which proved to me that people in this country are ready to stand for one another. In fact, I realized that I belong to this family and should do anything and everything to be with and to fight for these shared values”, he said in his statement.
I would like to inform all that I have decided to join the Congress party in my effort to continue the fight. I have been an activist trying to be a voice for the less privileged all through my life, wherever I was and would continue the same until my last breath. pic.twitter.com/na3fMn4ueM
— sashikanth senthil (@s_kanth) November 8, 2020
He said that he decided to be a part of the Congress movement to realize this goal and said that the ‘current leadership understands the spirit of this ideological fight that recognizes that India has to be for all’.
The former IAS officer has been accused of corruption during his tenure as the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district. Coming days after his resignation, the Federation of Dakshina Kanna District Sand Lorry Owner’s Association had alleged that the officer had created several lobbies with regards to sand mining. They also alleged that the officer had misused his powers in many ways and had granted sand extraction permits to many powerful people.
He is also said to have granted GPS tender for a blacklisted company named T4U Service Private Limited and received kickbacks for the same.
Jayaraj Shetty, the President of the Association had said that Sasikanth Senthil was responsible for the increase of sand price from ₹3000 to ₹14000. The officer had apparently misused the ‘Sand Bazar’ mobile app that was introduced to check illegal sand transportation. “Instead of providing sand to the public through the lorries which are registered under Sand Bazar app, sand was given to only limited people. A huge quantity of sand was provided to some mighty people in an illegal way”, Jayaraj had alleged.
The association back then had demanded a thorough probe to find out the reasons behind his resignation and abuse of power by him.