BJP State president Pralhad Joshi said on Saturday that the party would move an application seeking permission to prosecute Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar on the coal transport scam if Chief Minister Siddaramaiah failed to drop him from the Cabinet and initiate an inquiry.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar, Mr. Joshi said that despite a court directive on redoing the tender process, the Energy Minister failed to take corrective steps and instead the tender was awarded to Karamchand Thapar and Bros., causing huge loss to the State exchequer.
Displaying copies of the High Court Order in which the court had observed “serious flaws and lapses” in the entire tender process, Mr. Joshi said that the court had asked the Karnataka Power Corporation (KPC) to restart the tender process from the technical evaluation stage.
Mr. Shettar pointed out that although the court issued the direction in August, the Energy Minister had initiated steps to award the tender for transportation of coal from Odisha to the Raichur Thermal Plant to the highest bidder Karamchan Thapar and Bros.
Mutt billOn the controversy over the tabling of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill and the Chief Minister’s announcement on withdrawing it, Mr. Joshi urged the Chief Minister to pass a Cabinet resolution about withdrawing the Bill in the joint legislature session to be held in January.