The Opposition BJP has upped the ante against the Congress government in Karnataka and demanded the resignation of chief minister Siddaramaiah over two scams that have hit the year-old administration.
Leaders of the Opposition party took out a march minutes before the monsoon session of the state legislature began on Monday and urged the chief minister to take moral responsibility for the land scam in Mysuru and the alleged diversion of funds from a board for the Scheduled Tribes and resign.
The alleged scams that put the Congress government on the defensive are related to compensatory land allotments made by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the misappropriation of ₹89.9 crore from the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Board.
The chief minister’s wife, Parvathi, is among the beneficiaries whom MUDA allotted much more valuable and fully developed housing plots against undeveloped land acquired from them. In exchange for 3.16 acres of rural land acquired from Parvathi, MUDA had provided 14 prime housing plots, although Siddaramaiah’s government recently froze the entire process.
The government on Sunday formed an inquiry commission headed by retired high court judge P.N. Desai.
State BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra, who led the protest, told reporters that the Congress came to power promising transparency and corruption-free governance.
“They had assured the people of Karnataka a corruption-free and transparent government. Siddarmaiaah had said he would work to uplift the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes. But they have failed on all fronts,” he said.
Senior BJP leader and member of the Legislative Council C.T. Ravi said his party would settle for nothing less than the resignation of the chief minister. “We demand the resignation of the chief minister since all this government has done so far is daylight robbery of the common people with spiralling price rise and rampant corruption.”
BJP lawmaker Arvind Ballad said: “The judicial inquiry announced last night, because the Assembly session is starting today, is merely an eyewash. The case should be referred to the CBI.”
