Valmiki Corporation scamsters honey-trapped officials to misappropriate money, claims BJP leader
Bengaluru (PTI): Senior BJP leader B Sriramulu on Thursday alleged that the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scamsters honey-trapped government and bank officials to misappropriate money.
The former minister claimed that high-end luxury cars were purchased with the money meant for the welfare of tribal people. The money was laundered and used in different elections, including the Lok Sabha election, he further claimed.
"The scamsters purchased a Lamborghini car with the Valmiki Corporation funds, diverted money through 'hawala' channels and spent it on elections," Sriramulu claimed at a press conference here.
Former Minister Narasimha Nayak (Raju Gowda) alleged that the state government played a dubious role in the scam.
"We all know that more than Rs three crore cannot be transferred without the approval of the Finance Secretary, but on a single day Rs 50 crore was transferred. It is surprising that no one in the government knew about it," Nayak pointed out.
According to the BJP leader, the money was transferred to the accounts of 16 business persons. The amount transferred was somewhere between Rs 4.12 crore to Rs 5.98 crore.
Both the BJP leaders demanded the arrest of Congress MLA B Nagendra who resigned as Tribal Welfare minister after the scam came to light.
The alleged scam was uncovered when the Accounts Superintendent of the Corporation, Chandrasekharan P, took his own life on May 26 and left a suicide note alleging that a sum of Rs 187 crore was illegally transferred from the corporation.
This includes Rs 88.62 crore illegally credited to various accounts of some IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank, according to official sources.
The Congress government thereafter constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has so far arrested 11 people in connection with the case.
The SIT has questioned Nagendra and Corporation chairperson Basanagouda Daddal.
Meanwhile, the central-government agency Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday raided several locations in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana allegedly linked to Nagendra and Daddal.
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Right to vote under threat, must be made fundamental right: Cong's Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged on Thursday that the right to vote is under threat and the time has come when it should be made a fundamental right for citizens.
Speaking with reporters, Ramesh lashed out at Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, saying the Election Commission (EC) has never been as compromised as it has been under him.
"The rot started under his predecessor. This man is a player and not a neutral observer," the Congress leader said, slamming Kumar.
Kumar is completely compromised and has become a player in elections, he alleged.
"Home Minister Amit Shah had talked about three Ds -- detect, delete and deport. So we want to know how many non-Indian citizens have been detected, how many have been deleted and how many have been deported," Ramesh said, adding that the right to vote is now under threat.
On opposition parties submitting a fresh notice in the Rajya Sabha, seeking to move a motion for the CEC's removal, the Congress leader said they will continue to make efforts for Kumar's removal as he is "compromised".
Ramesh also batted for the right to vote to be recognised as a fundamental right.
"I believe that the time has come that the right to vote should be made a fundamental right. It is a statutory right, it is not a fundamental right. Fundamental rights are justiciable," he said.
The former Union minister said this was discussed in the Constituent Assembly, but it was eventually decided that it should be made part of the Constitution.
B R Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram had warned that in the future, governments might try to disenfranchise voters, he added.
"Once and for all, include the right to vote as a fundamental right for Indian citizens," Ramesh asserted.
