Excise Minister R B Timmapur.
Credit: Instagram/ rb_timmapur_official
Bengaluru: Excise Minister R B Timmapur on Wednesday maintained that he would not quit and termed the Opposition's corruption allegations against him as "false and a political conspiracy".
Earlier in the day, Timmapur met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and held talks.
"Can we run the government if resignations are tendered as and when the Opposition demands? They ask for everyone's resignation, even that of the CM's. Should everyone resign? What's the evidence? I won't allow them to defame the government as part of a political conspiracy," Timmapur said.
The Opposition BJP and the JD(S) has demanded Timmapur's resignation citing "large-scale" corruption in the Excise department over transfer of officials and liquor licensing. The Opposition staged an all-night protest, spending all of Tuesday night inside the Assembly.
"Nothing has happened. There is no question of me resigning. I have not done any such wrong thing. There is no evidence for the allegations," Timmapur insisted.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar also backed Timmapur. "The BJP is trying to trouble a Dalit minister by demanding his resignation," he said. "There's no evidence. They [BJP] have no issues, so they've created all fake ones," Shivakumar, who is the Karnataka Congress president, said.
Shivakumar charged that the Opposition did not want a discussion on MGNREGA, which has been repealed by the union government. "That's why they're doing some drama," he said.