State govt misusing minorities' funds for poll: BJP

The state BJP on Tuesday charged the ruling Congress of misusing Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation funds for electoral purposes.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, BJP state general secretary Shobha Karandlaje said the corporation recently provided Rs 18.75 lakh each to 94 Congress MLAs under the Shramashakti scheme.

Under this scheme, minority artisans are trained to upgrade their artistic and technical skills to carry on with their trade and, a loan up to Rs 25,000 is provided at a low rate of interest.

According to Shobha, Rs 18.75 lakh was provided to the each of the MLAs without even identifying beneficiaries in their constituencies. Besides, only the Congress MLAs got the grants make the malafide intention of ruling dispensation clear, she charged.

The BJP leader said that as per rules the corporation has to draw the list of eligible beneficiaries after inviting applications. The MLA can only ratify the list. However, in this case the list was drawn by the MLAs themselves and even the beneficiaries were not identified.

Shobha charged that the grants were being diverted for election purposes. She sought the intervention of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the issue.