Defending the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is facing a slew of corruption cases, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday criticised the Lokayukta for indicting him.
“There is a malicious campaign against a particular person in Karnataka. Nobody is talking about the Lokayukta indicting people who should not have actually been indicted,” BJP national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said at a press conference here on the sidelines of an interaction with college students on election issues.
Maintaining that a particular chapter of the Lokayukta report referring to the indictment of Mr. Yeddyurappa had been quashed by the Karnataka High Court, she expressed concern over people still targeting the former Chief Minister.
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When asked why the party asked Mr. Yeddyurappa to step down as Chief Minister if it was confident of his clean image, she said, “Because we have to deal with you (media). Even if a small stigma is there…, we are not shameless like the Congress.” She refused to comment when asked why party veteran L.K. Advani too was critical of Mr. Yeddyurappa on his blog.
The issue of Mr. Yeddyurappa came up as a student at the interaction asked Ms. Lekhi to keep away corrupt leaders from its fold.