The protest by Congress over alleged corruption by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the State seems to have rankled the ruling party, prompting the Chief Minister to announce that the government would hand over probe into a host of cases of alleged corruption against the previous Congress government to Karnataka Lokayukta.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the government will hand 59 cases of corruption allegations against Congress leaders to Lokayukta. “The ACB was created to close all these 59 cases and the ACB filed B-report in all of them. We will recommend Lokayukta probe in all these cases.”
“Congress does not have moral right to speak about corruption after closing down Lokayukta,” he said responding to Congress’ “Root-out Corruption, Save Bengaluru” campaign. “Why did they close down Lokayukta ? They are trying to teach us a lesson after acting against Lokayukta to cover up their misdeeds.”
He said: “Congress is the fountain head of corruption. Siddaramaiah government created a record by giving 60% premium for work amounting to ₹800 crore. Speaking about corruption after giving 60% premium amount shows their double standards. They are making allegations of corruption now to protest themselves. We have already given complaint to Lokayukta. If they have any complaint, they can approach Lokayukta too.“
The Chief Minister also sought to refute the allegation that Brand Bengaluru was affected and its infrastructure was crumbling. In a series of tweets, he listed out various schemes and allocation of funds for the city under their government, and claimed: “Due to our Govt’s unwavering emphasis on growth and development, Bengaluru is firmly entrenched on the path of progress. We have allocated ₹6000 crore to BBMP for Bengaluru Development under Amruth Nagarothana Programme. ₹600 crore released for flood relief works”.
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