A senior Karnataka BJP leader has termed his party a failure as the state Opposition for its inability to apply a chokehold on the ruling Congress that faces at least two major corruption charges, one of them against the chief minister’s wife.

“The monsoon session of the state legislature has concluded. The BJP, which was supposed to be the voice of the people by pointing out the failures of the state government, has totally failed in doing it as an Opposition party,” Aravind Limbavali, a former minister, said in a statement on X.

The BJP has accused the Congress government of funds embezzlement from a state-run corporation for the Scheduled Tribes’ welfare, and a land scam in Mysuru in which chief minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi is alleged to be a beneficiary.

Limbavali went on to express suspicion about BJP leaders colluding with the Congress, saying the “people have started to wonder whether the Opposition party was involved with the ruling party”.

The statement from Limbavali, considered close to the RSS, comes just days after former Mysuru Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha of the BJP openly defended Siddaramaiah over the alleged land scam, in which the chief minister has pleaded innocence.

Limbavali alleged a lack of harmony within the Opposition for its failure in cornering the Congress government.

“It is regrettable that there has been no harmony or understanding between our (state) party president, who is also an MLA, and the leader of the Opposition,” he said, referring to B.Y. Vijayendra and R. Ashoka, respectively.

The purported scams are related to compensatory land allotments by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) and the alleged diversion of Rs 89.9 crore from the Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation.

Parvathi is among the beneficiaries of the compensatory land allotment. Muda has allotted 14 housing plots in a prime locality to her in lieu of 3.16 acres of rural land it had acquired from her.

But Siddaramaiah, who froze all the allotments following the uproar, has underlined that the allotment was made by the previous BJP government, headed by Basavaraj Bommai.

The BJP had held an overnight protest in the Assembly seeking Siddaramaiah’s resignation and a discussion on the land controversy in the House. But Limbavali said a lack of harmony within the BJP had helped the Congress.

“This helped the ruling party take complete advantage. The action of our party leaders, who did not utilise the opportunity and time in the House adequately, spent the whole session in vain and joined hands with the ruling party in curtailing the proceedings of the House when there was still one day left, is questionable,” he said.

“Overall, the BJP has completely failed as the Opposition in this session. Given the behaviour of the leaders in the session, it has turned out to be a big question (for) all sincere and hardworking karyakartas that how the BJP headed by these leaders can engage itself in major struggles in the coming days.”

The BJP had denied a ticket to Limbavali and instead picked his wife, Manjula, who won from his Mahadevpura seat in last year’s state polls.

The party dumped two-term MP Simha apparently because of his role in securing visitor’s passes for two of those held for a security breach in the Lok Sabha last December.

To the BJP’s shock, Simha this week called Siddaramaiah a “mass leader” and said: “I won’t call Siddaramaiah a corrupt leader.”

The Congress has 135 members in a House of 224, the BJP has 66, and the JDS 19.