The Bharatiya Janata Party is expecting the Enforcement Directorate to ascertain the reference made with regard to ₹1,000 crore purportedly paid by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to the Congress high command in a dairy obtained during a raid on the house of K. Govindraj, Congress MLC and known aide of Mr. Siddaramaiah, said former Minister and senior BJP leader Umesh V. Katti, MLA.
Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, he said the CM was upset following the revelation and had been issuing irresponsible statements to the media instead of coming out clean.
When it was pointed out that the Supreme Court had declined to order a probe into huge pay-offs by big business establishments to politicians, including the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the basis of “not authentic and fictitious” documents allegedly seized by Income Tax Department during a raid on the offices of Sahara and Birla groups last year, he said the charges against Mr. Modi were political.
He did not respond when asked if the fate of investigation against those whose names were reportedly found in the diary related to mining barons, the Reddy brothers of Ballari.
But, there was substantial evidence in case of Mr. Siddaramaiah suggesting ₹65 crore changing hands in the Steel Bridge case. Also, the diary was recovered from the house of a Congress party MLA who is a known aide of the CM.
Mr. Katti demanded immediate resignation of Small Scale Industries Minister and Belagavi district in-charge Ramesh L. Jarkiholi and Karnataka Pradesh Mahila Congress President Laxmi R. Hebbalkar from their respective posts without further delay, in the light of I-T raids carried out their residential premises recently. But, the Congress was not willing to take any action and was defending them. “If these two persons had any self-respect, they must resign first,” Mr. Katti said.
He said the I-T raids on the houses of two Congress leaders were first in the series in the aftermath of the demonetisation of currencies of higher denomination since November 8 last year.
Protest rally
Leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagdish Shettar and in the Council K.S. Eshwarappa will lead a strong rally in Belagavi city on Monday to protest against the alleged corruption and misrule of the Congress government and its failure to take up drought relief and development works in Belagavi city on Monday.
