Welcoming the legal notice served on him by the BJP for having charged the State government with committing irregularities in COVID-19-related purchases, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that at least now, the government had to submit the documents that they had asked for in court.
“We had decided to seek legal recourse. By issuing legal notice, the BJP has made our job easy. At least now the documents have to be submitted in court and the government has to face us [there],” he tweeted. “It has been over 24 days since the government said that the documents would be sent home within 24 hours. Not a single sheet of document has reached me yet. Why this fear?”
In another tweet, he said the “public loot” had reduced since he openly questioned the purchases, and orders worth crores of rupees have been stalled. They are attacking me because they are angry at me for preventing the loot, he said.
In another tweet, the Congress leader said, “If we complain to the Chief Minister [B.S. Yediyurappa], he says give me information. If we release documents, they say it is a lie. If we ask for investigation, then they say why an investigation on a lie? What else can we do other than to go to the public?”
He claimed that while people were struggling because of lack of beds, medicines, food, and employment, all the government could see was making money out of the purchase of medical equipment. “Should we keep quiet when the total COVID-19 numbers are at 1.29 lakh and the death toll is at 2,412? We had kept quiet because the numbers [in Karnataka] were lower than that in other States. Today, Karnataka is set to overtake Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Will it not be a betrayal of the people’s trust if we keep quiet?” he asked.
In another tweet, he said, “There is a direct link between corruption and increase in cases in the State. That is why we are creating awareness directly among the public through the abhiyan.”
The former Chief Minister also criticised the Union government’s decision to allow export of ventilators. “A reason for the increasing COVID-19 fatality rate in the State is shortage of ventilators. There are 57,000 active COVID-19 cases in BBMP [region] and there are 801 ventilators available. The situation is critical in the State. Karnataka is reporting about 5,000 fresh cases daily and 80 to 90 deaths. Inhuman government,” he tweeted.
