There was ruckus in both Houses of the State legislature on the last day of the session on Tuesday as the Congress and Opposition BJP levelled charges against each other on Income Tax Department raids on residences of Congress leaders and allegations that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had paid large sums to the high command.
In the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah termed I-T raids on the residences of Congress leaders, including Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, as “a political conspiracy”.
Why are I-T officials targeting only Congress leaders, he demanded to know. “Are all BJP members BPL (below poverty line) cardholders?” he sarcastically asked.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had written to the I-T department through the Chief Secretary asking for details of seized documents. The I-T Department had informed him that “investigations are under progress” and documents cannot be provided under provisions of Section 138 of Income Tax Act, 1961. “Then what documents had the BJP procured to level charges and how,” he asked.
Pandemonium prevailed in the House as ruling and Opposition members shouted each other down.
Meanwhile, in the Upper House, uproar prevailed when the BJP moved an adjournment motion on I-T raids and State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa’s allegation that Mr. Siddaramaiah took kickbacks in projects and routed it to the party high command. At one point, some Congress MLCs walked into the well of the House in protest.
While the Opposition members displayed copies of media reports on I-T raids on Congress leaders, the Congress members displayed CDs released by them on Thursday showing Mr. Yeddyurappa in conversation with Union Minister Ananth Kumar hatching what they called a “conspiracy” to malign the ruling party.
There were noisy scenes again when Deputy Chairman Marithibbe Gowda allowed B.J. Puttaswamy (BJP), who was seeking an adjournment to be moved, to make preliminary submission. But later, Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy rejected the motion on the ground that the issue was unrelated to the government.
In the Lower House, amidst sloganeering, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the CD has exposed the “murky deals” of Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Ananth Kumar. With elections scheduled to be held next year, the BJP leaders have been making baseless allegations against him and the government, he claimed. BJP members staged a walkout in both Houses of the legislature.
