After reportedly being pulled up by their national president Amit Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party State unit on Monday hurriedly announced that it would launch a State-wide campaign to demand the resignation of Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who faced I-T raids recently.
State unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa announced the campaign plan to the media minutes before the scheduled press conference of Mr. Shah. According to sources, Mr. Shah had instructed him to make the announcement before his press meet in which he went hammer and tongs against the Congress government on the issue of corruption.
Reiterating his charges that the Congress government in the State was “the most corrupt”, Mr. Shah took exception to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not seeking resignation of Ministers who faced I-T raids. “Instead of bending his head in shame, the Chief Minister is flaunting the allegations related to corruption as though they are medals won by his government,” he said.
Week-long campaign
Mr. Yeddyurappa said the week-long campaign to be launched on August 18 would target the Congress government in general and Mr. Shivakumar in particular. The campaign would be in the form of dharnas, rallies and torch-light processions, he said. He maintained that the party took time to launch the campaign as it was “collecting information related to the raids.”
The campaign would also demand resignation of Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and action against Congress Women’s Wing chief Laxmi Hebbalkar, whose premises too were raided.
