As common citizens of the country, we have high expectations on the politicians in the hope that they would transform the underdeveloped regions into economically advanced ones. Even the politicians on TV channels claim that they would give absolutely everything to bring about a massive change in their respective states.
Unfortunately, the advancement wouldn’t happen as there would be a lot of internal problems surrounding it and as a result, it’s we who end up getting disappointed after keeping strong hopes on the leaders. We do not know what happens behind the scenes but we do know that politicians would accuse each other time and time again.
There are hardly a few politicians across the nation who do clean and corruption-free politics. People would be really surprised if all of the politicians work towards the nation’s development. Let’s take a look at the ten most allegedly corrupt Indian politicians in the country.
#1. Suresh Kalmadi
For so long, we’ve heard about leaders single-handedly bringing about a change in the nation but Suresh Kalmadi will be remembered for almost single-handedly causing massive destruction to the nation as he alone is responsible for a loss of hundreds of crores of rupees.
For example, the Commonwealth Games which was organized by Kalmadi was no less than plunder with plenty of reports of the mega event being involved in corruption hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons way before the Games had even kick-started.
Seemingly, out of Rs. 70000 crores spent on the Commonwealth Games, only half of the amount was actually spent in reality. Due to his involvement in the scam, Kalmadi was charged with ‘corruption’ and then he was sent to Tihar jail.
#2. Andimuthu Raja
A. Raja, former Union Cabinet Minister for Communications and Information Technology made the headlines for his biggest ever 2G spectrum scam worth Rs. 176,000 crore which was the largest that the nation had seen in a long time.
In the aftermath of shocking exposure, Raja was forced to resign and sent to Tihar jail on February 2, 2011, where he stayed for fifteen months. However, on 15 May 2012, he was granted bail by the Supreme court with a condition that he would not visit the Department of Telecommunications nor his home state Tamil Nadu.
#3. Mayawati
BSP supremo Mayawati allegedly used her status as CM to gather staggering personal wealth. She has been charged with corruption when the Taj Heritage Corridor Case was exposed. She even does facial daily and colours her hair to look young even at the age of 63.
#4. Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav has been an accused in more than 63 cases and the biggest scam that shocked his political career was the fodder scam which was associated with theft of Rs. 950 crores.
#5. Madhu Koda
Madhu Koda is a former Jharkhand CM and only the third independent legislator to take charge at the office of CM in India. He was accused as one of the corrupt politicians in the country as he was responsible for a scam worth over Rs. 4000 crores.
He reportedly utilised the state’s natural resources by licensing illegal mining leases and storing all the wealth in a secret place on the whole during the undertaking. Koda was detained on charges of ‘money laundering case’ and is sentenced to three years in jail and fined ₹25 lakh in December 2017. He is still in the cell after the rejection of plenty of bail applications.
#6. Mulayam Singh Yadav
Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh and the founder of the Samajwadi Party might not be directly involved in big scams but he is also labelled as one of the most corrupt ministers in the nation.
Mulayam Singh Yadav is known for appointing undesirable officers and in prime, he didn’t use his power in the best possible away as CM. He had one allegation case levelled against him i.e. accumulation of disproportionate assets. The shocking allegation drew attention on his sons and daughter-in-law as they too were holders of the assets worth crores of rupees.
#7. Karunanidhi
Popularly known as ‘Kalaignar’, the corruptions charges levelled against him are so many in number and which is why he is referred to as the king of corruption. The former Tamil Nadu CM was accused of offering assistance to the LTTE and was charged for lending his full support to the LTTE in the original interim report which directed the probe into Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
Karunanidhi was known to be a main accused in the ‘cash for votes scams’ and also in the 2G scam where A. Raja, rates him to be his mentor.
#8. Sharad Pawar
Time and again, Sharad Pawar comes under fire for ‘alleged investments’ made by him and his family in several illegal projects. He was named by Abdul Karim Telgi, during a narcoanalysis test, highlighting that it was Pawar’s masterplan to print ‘fake stamp papers’ across the nation and mint money. Not just that! He was also accused in a multi-crore scam dealing with wheat imports.
#9. Jayalalithaa
Former CM of Tamil Nadu has as many as 46 corruption cases against her to his name. The cases which rocked her political career were the Rs.70 million coal import scam, Tansi land deal case, a case of disproportionate assets and colour TV case and many others.
A CBI raid in her residence and business setup reportedly led to the capture of around 28 kg of jewellery (more than Rs 51 crore in today’s exchange rate), 91 wrist-watches, 41 air-conditioners, 10,500 sarees, 750 pairs of footwear, etc.
#10. BS Yeddyurappa
B. S. Yeddyurappa allegedly has several corruption cases to his name and the one that defamed his political career was his alleged involvement in the ‘illegal iron ore export scam’ in several districts of Karnataka. After a lot of controversy surrounding Yeddyurappa regarding the corruption case, he lost his ministerial post.