JOIN USRajya Sabha MP seeks Lokayukta probe into Rs 150-cr kickback charge
Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar has demanded that the Karnataka Lokayukta investigate the charge that Rs 150 crore was paid as kickback in the controversial steel flyover project.
He met Lokayukta Justice P Vishwanath Shetty here on Friday and filed a memorandum on the explosive allegation. He said a diary detailing illegal transactions had significant evidentiary value in a criminal prosecution because it was seized from Congress MLC K Govindaraju.
“This in itself makes it different from other cases. The Lokayukta must take suo motu cognisance of the allegation and seek details from the Income Tax Department that possibly has custody of the diary,” he said.
Public disclosure
Chandrasekhar, an Independent MP who supports the BJP, said former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s public disclosure about the contents of the diary, which explained the kickback being paid to the Congress high command, needed proper investigation.
He said the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and other government agencies had “consistently depicted hesitance” in providing information to the public on the steel flyover project. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Bengaluru Development Minister K J George have conducted themselves in a manner so as to “ring-fence” the project from public scrutiny, leading to the adaptation of a “non-transparent” methodology for implementing the project, he said.
“Non-transparent way”
“I was the first to say way back in June 2016 — after writing to the CM and the BDA commissioner cautioning them about the non-transparent way they were pushing this project — that this was not a project for Bengaluru but rather a contractor-driven project aimed with the sole purpose of collecting money for upcoming legislative elections. The steel flyover is nothing but a naked, brazen way of exploiting the city by a group of shameless politicians — who tried to con the city and its people into believing that this was in their interest,” Rajeev said.