BJP seeks White Paper on source of CM's gifts

State BJP president Pralhad Joshi demanded on Wednesday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should release a White Paper on the sources of all the gifts he has received, including the costly watch he wears.

He was addressing a press conference in the town. The MP said the chief minister comes from a socialist background. It is not known whether he has placed a ceiling on the cost of the watch he wears.

“Let Siddaramaiah reveal the person who gifted the watch to him. Else, it would be concluded that the charges being made that the costly gift is a quid pro quo for some favour to someone are true,” the BJP leader said.

The matter would be raised in the Lok Sabha and legal action was also being contemplated, Joshi said.

He predicted that the results of the ZP, TP elections would be similar to that of the byelections where the Congress suffered a setback. The poll results were an answer to the misgovernance of the Siddaramaiah dispensation, Joshi said.

Siddaramaiah should call a meeting of the ministers and MPs concerned before presenting the budget.

Regard the Hubballi-Ankola railway line, for which the National Green Tribunal has given its approval, Joshi said he would write to the chief minister about it. He said the drought relief money was yet to be distributed to farmers though the Central government had already released Rs 1,500 crore for the purpose, he said.