Row over cash seizure from Karnataka minister's clerk
Bengaluru, Jan 5: The alleged seizure of a large amount of cash from a clerk in the office of Karnataka minister for backward classes welfare C Puttarangashetty snowballed into a major controversy Saturday with the BJP and a senior leader of ruling coalition partner JD(S) demanding the resignation of the Congress minister.
Chief Minister H.D Kumaraswamy said an investigation was on and a decision will be taken once a detailed report comes out.
Mounting an attack on the ruling Congress-JDS coalition government, the BJP demanded that the minister step down following the seizure of cash from the clerk in the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, Friday night.
"Yesterday the police seized Rs 25.76 lakh from Puttarangashetty's PA at Vidhana Soudha. The cover bore the name of Minister Puttarangashetty.
"He must resign immediately and the matter should be thoroughly investigated," BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said in Shivamogga.
Taking a jibe at the state government, BJP general secretary and party spokesperson N Ravi Kumar wondered "how much money other ministers would be making if the daily collection of a minister is Rs 25.76 lakh".
JD(S) MLC Basavaraj Horatti too demanded that the minister resign on moral grounds.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said investigations were on and accordingly action would be taken against the accused.
"With regard to the investigation, police will take their own decision. I am not the one to misuse power and influence investigation. We will take a decision when a detailed report comes out after a transparent investigation," he said.
Former chief minister and state congress leader Siddaramaiah said investigation has to be carried out to find out how the accused got such a huge amount of cash.
A case has to be registered, he said.
According to police, the clerk Mohan was intercepted when he was taking the cash inside Vidhana Soudha and was later arrested.
The clerk could not give any satisfactory reply to the queries on the source of the money and the motive behind taking it inside the state secretariat, they said.
Puttarangashetty had said he has no clue about the cash and that he was not in the office when the person was caught.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
