BJP says 'restless' Congress ordering probes into old cases to target its leaders

Bengaluru: Asserting that the ruling Congress was indulging in political vendetta by ‘reopening old and closed cases,’ former deputy chief minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan and BJP chief whip in the Council N Ravi Kumar said on Sunday that the BJP was capable of fighting such cases politically and legally.

They were addressing reporters separately in the city. The two leaders were referring to the interrogation of BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa by the Lokayukta and the discovery of 292 fraudulent projects by the Maheshwara Rao committee, which is scrutinizing the operations at the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keonics) since November 2022. 

Calling Siddaramaiah ‘Hublot CM’ and ‘BDA redo scam CM,” Ashwath Narayan said that the CM should not forget his old cases that are lodged with the Lokayukta and transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). 

After the closure of the ACB, these cases are yet to be investigated, he said.

“Siddaramaiah is stuck neck deep in corruption. I am not worried about the affairs in Keonics. It is a corporation, and it has no link to the ministry I was in charge of,” he said.

The former DCM said Siddaramaiah had become restless after his name cropped up in the MUDA scam.

“Their (Congress’) restlessness is palpable as they are ordering investigations into closed cases. I can say confidently that they will not succeed in their machinations,” he said.

Ravi Kumar said that the ruling party was trying to target Yediyurappa by reopening cases against him.

“The Congress will expose itself if it continues to target leaders like Yediyurappa. The BJP will fight these politically motivated cases legally as well as politically. We will continue to expose the corrupt Congress much more in the next few days,” he said. 

Ravi Kumar warned that the BJP would soon release documents pertaining to a procurement scam that took place in the education department.

“We are in the process of collating documents,” he said, without giving details.