BJP's roll of dishonour in Karnataka keeps growing
At least 15 of 120 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators in Karnataka are facing various charges of wrong doing - from rape to corruption and illegal land deals to viewing porn in the assembly.
The list is led by the party’s first chief minister in southern India B.S. Yeddyurappa, who quit July 31 last year following the then Lokayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde’s recommendation to try him for corruption in illegal mining scam.
Wednesday’s resignation of three ministers -- Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and J. Krishna Palemar -- over viewing porn in the assembly Tuesday takes to four the number of ministers who have lost their posts to sex-related issues.
The fourth is Haratalu Halappa who quit in 2010 after his friend’s wife accused him of raping her.
The rest are all fighting cases of corruption and illegal land deals.Besides Yeddyurappa, some of the other prominent among the ‘tainted’ BJP law makers are former ministers Katta Subramanya Naidu, S.N. Krishnaiah Setty, and Gali Janardhana Reddy.
Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, Housing Minister V. Somanna and Speaker K.G. Bopaiah are also facing allegations of corruption and illegal land deals. The others facing controversy are party spokesperson C.T. Ravi and Yeddyurappa's elder son and MP B.Y. Raghavendra.
The BJP’s 120 members include the speaker. The assembly strength is 225 (including one nominated member).
The Congress has 71 members, the Janata Dal-Secular 26 while the rest are Independents.
