Union Minister Pralhad Joshi takes on Karnataka CM alleging misuse of funds, demands CBI probe
Jul 25, 2024
New Delhi [India], July 25 : Union Minister Pralhad Joshi launched attack on the Karnataka government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged misuse of funds and involvement in various scams.
Joshi also reiterated the BJP's demand for the CM's resignation and investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"The Karnataka government has misused the SC/ST funds. Rs 189 crores were supposed to be transferred but out of that, Rs 89 crores were initially transferred. This was a very big scam. SIT was constituted, and the accused ministers who had resigned after much pressure were not investigated. When the ED entered, they filed an FIR against the ED," Pralhad Joshi said while speaking to ANI on Thursday.
He also alleged the involvement of the CM in the Valmiki Board scam in Karnataka.
"At the same time, in the MUDA scam, the 14 most valuable sites have been allotted in his wife's name, worth crores. In 2013, he did not declare anything about this land in his affidavit. In 2018, he said its worth was Rs 25 lakh. In 2023, he filed his affidavit stating its value to be Rs 25 crore," he said.
"We have demanded the CM to step down and the entire episode should be handed over to the CBI," he added.
The BJP MLAs staged a night-long sit-in protest in the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru on Wednesday against the state government, demanding the resignation of CM Siddaramaiah.
Responding to the protests, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the government "does not want to intervene" in the ongoing investigation.
"A lot of scams have been done in the BJP regime and their investigation is on. We wanted to reply in the assembly and they wanted to stop us. But in his written speech, CM gave a detailed reply on the number of scams that have happened and how they have happened. SIT was already investigating and now ED and CBI have entered. We don't want to interfere with the investigation," DK Shivakumar said while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar said on Thursday that the BJP is unnecessarily creating issues that had happened during their tenure, and it is purely a political drama played by them to get people's attention.
Sudhakar dismissed the BJP demanding the CM's resingation over Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam calling it "ridiculous".
