Excise scam allegation: Bhajans, sloganeering mark Opposition's overnight protest in Assembly
Bengaluru (PTI): Bhajans, religious chants, and sloganeering dominated the overnight agitation carried out by Opposition BJP and JD(S) MLAs inside the Karnataka Assembly premises.
The BJP and JD(S) MLAs have been staging protests, demanding Excise Minister R B Timmapur's resignation, since Tuesday night.
The Opposition has alleged widespread corruption in the Excise Department, saying that bribe is being demanded for issuing liquor licences.
Opposition leader R Ashoka alleged that there was a scam to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore in the department.
He also alleged that the money was being used by the ruling Congress to fund the party in the poll-bound states.
The recent trigger was the arrest of Excise Deputy Commissioner of the Bengaluru Urban District Jagadeesh Naik and two other officials by the Lokayukta sleuths, while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakh on January 16.
According to Lokayukta officials, they were accused of demanding Rs 80 lakh to issue CL-7 (Hotels & Boarding Houses) and micro brewery licence.
While replying to the Opposition’s charges, the minister said that he had taken steps to reduce corruption in his department. He also said that "corruption is not a new phenomenon in my department".
Timmapur has also declined the BJP's demand for his resignation, saying no ministers during the BJP government had ever stepped down.
The BJP leaders held a demonstration on the steps outside the Assembly hall, and they later slept inside the Assembly.
Playing tambourines, the MLAs raised slogans demanding Timmapur's resignation.
They also sang devotional chants like 'Sri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram'.
The opposition MLAs also held a meeting to draw their next course of action.
In the morning, some MLAs, including BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura Assembly constituency, did exercises and went for a walk on the Vidhana Soudha premises.
The BJP MLAs have said they will continue their agitation inside the Assembly until Timmapur resigns.
VIDEO | Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition R Ashoka on night-long protest by BJP, JD(S) MLAs inside the Vidhana Soudha, says, "We have done Dharna in the Assembly of Karnataka because in liquor lobby, and liquor minister, Thimmapur looted 6,000 crores. This is not my statement, this… pic.twitter.com/6vB5dwUpkx
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 4, 2026
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rahul Gandhi should've been allowed to quote Naravane's 'memoir' in LS: Sharad Pawar
Baramati (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi should have been allowed in the Lok Sabha to quote from an unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief MM Naravane.
The controversy on the memoir, 'Four Stars of Destiny', centres on the events of the Indo-China stand-off in 2020.
A row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Gandhi sought to quote from the unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief Naravane, but Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with other BJP members, strongly opposed it and accused the Congress leader of "misleading" the House.
Pawar said Gandhi "should have been allowed" to speak on the subject in Parliament during the Budget session.
ALSO READ: SC to hear Mamata's plea against SIR on Wednesday; Bengal CM may attend proceedings
"If the former Army chief has written something and if the leader of the opposition is saying something, then it is his (Gandhi's) right and he should have been given that opportunity," the Rajya Sabha member said at a press conference in Baramati.
He said that an atmosphere of suspicion should not prevail unnecessarily in the country.
"The former Army chief has written something in the book which shows there was some concerning situation. If a discussion had taken place in Parliament on the issue, people could have got a clear picture," Pawar said.
Though the book is unpublished, Gandhi held a copy of it and the Lok Sabha speaker asked to authenticate the copy, he noted. "Why was there opposition (to Gandhi) when the copy was authenticated?" Pawar asked.
Gandhi on Wednesday cited the unpublished "memoir" to claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to Naravane.
Addressing reporters in the premises of Parliament House complex, Gandhi held up Naravane's unpublished "memoir" and said he would like the youngsters in India to know that this 'book' exists despite the government claiming otherwise.
He said Naravane has written the full account of what happened in Ladakh.
Gandhi has also written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest over being disallowed from speaking in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a "blot on our democracy".
He has also said that it was for the first time in history that LoP was not allowed to speak on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
