BJP, Cong spar in Council over kickback charge against CM

 The Rs 150-crore kickback charge against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah echoed in the Legislative Council with the BJP seeking to move an adjournment motion.

As soon as the House met, B J Puttaswamy (BJP) said there were charges that Siddaramaiah and others in the government were indulging in corrupt activities and sought to move an adjournment motion in the House.

Congress members, including K C Kondaiah and Motamma, objected to the move. However, Puttaswamy insisted that the charges were against the chief minister himself that he had sought Rs 150 crore as kickbacks for sanctioning the Chalukya Circle-Hebbal steel flyover in Bengaluru.

“When the issue is taken to its logical end, it could even result in the resignation of the chief minister. It is an important matter and needs to be discussed,” Puttaswamy said.

However, Council chairman D H Shankaramurthy said he was rejecting the motion proposed to be moved by Puttaswamy on two grounds. One the letter submitted by Puttaswamy to the chairman’s office, seeking his consent to move the adjournment motion, did not have a date.

“Besides, an adjournment motion cannot be allowed based on charges. If there are documents and evidence to back the charges, the same will have to be placed before the House,” Shankaramurthy said.

Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa said the party would seek to move another adjournment on the issue after rectifying its letter to the chairman on Tuesday. Eshwarappa said I-T raids on ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet and Congress MLAs had unearthed  unaccounted for assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees. Basavaraj Patil Itagi (Congress) recalled that a note-counting machine had been found in Eshwarappa’s residence a few years ago.