BJP leader, ex-CM Sadananda Gowda seeks Siddaramaiah's resignation over Valmiki scam
Bengaluru, Oct 17: Targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the multi-crore scam in Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, senior BJP leader D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday urged him to resign on the occasion of Valmiki Jayanti.
The former Chief Minister also claimed that certain recent developments show that Siddaramaiah is likely to resign soon.
".....I urge CM Siddaramaiah to resign today because it is a good day. They (ruling Congress) have swallowed a huge amount of money belonging to Valmiki Corporation, and today is Valmiki Jayanti. So, I urge him to retire from politics by resigning from the chief ministerial post today. it will certainly provide him with some relief," Gowda told reporters here.
Claiming that Siddaramaiah has accepted the guilt, by admitting that there was misappropriation to the tune of about Rs 89 crore in the Corporation, Gowda, citing the CM recently offering prayers to Goddesses and Savadatti Yellamma and Chamundeshwari of Mysuru, said: "he seemed as though he was expressing his guilt and was seeking excuse from the god with a request to bring him out of the scandals."
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The illegal money transfer scam involving Corporation came to the fore, after its accounts superintendent, Chandrasekharan P, died by suicide on May 26, leaving behind a note.
After the scam came to light, Congress MLA B Nagendra resigned as the Scheduled Tribes Welfare Minister in June. The ED had in July arrested Nagendra under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and also five other key accused during the investigation. He was released on bail on Wednesday.
The ED had said its investigation revealed that under the influence of Nagendra, the account of the corporation was moved to the MG Road Branch (of bank) without any proper authorisation, where Rs 187 crore, including Rs. 43.33 crore from the State Treasury under the 'Ganga Kalyana Scheme', were deposited without following proper procedures and in violation of government guidelines.
These funds were subsequently siphoned off through multiple shell accounts and converted into cash and bullion. ED investigation also revealed that an amount of Rs 20.19 crore of the diverted funds was used to support a candidate contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Bellary constituency, as well as for the personal expenses of Nagendra, the federal probe agency has said.
The opposition has been demanding Siddaramaiah's resignation in the case, stating that such a huge amount couldn't have been transferred without the knowledge of the CM, who also holds the Finance department portfolio, with money from the treasury also being involved.
Reacting to the CM earlier in the day announcing that all ST residential schools in the state and Raichur University will be named after Maharshi Valmiki, Gowda said: "after swallowing the money that was allocated for the development of Valmiki community, now naming the schools in his name won't serve the purpose."
The real intention of the government should be the welfare of the people from the Valmiki community, he said.
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Israel says rabbi who went missing in UAE was killed
Tel Aviv, Nov 24: Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE.
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment.
Early Sunday, the UAE's state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan's disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”
“Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and said that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.
Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for "their swift action." He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai's busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.
Kogan's wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
