No development, corruption at peak in Karnataka, alleges BJP's Vijayendra
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Saturday lashed out at the Siddaramaiah-led government, alleging that there was absolutely zero development in the state while corruption was at its peak.
He said the BJP would continue to "expose" the state government and its "failures".
Listing a series of issues, the BJP chief said the Congress dispensation headed by Siddaramaiah had failed on multiple fronts, be it the Dharmasthala issue, the hate speech Bill, the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede incident, the liquor policy or corruption-related cases.
Speaking to reporters here, Vijayendra alleged that corruption in the state had increased. There was a detection of Rs 14.5 crore of wealth from Sarfaraz Khan, who is considered close to Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and is on deputation in the Karnataka Housing Department.
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He also referred to the alleged ST Development scam, which took place during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The Valmiki Development Corporation scam in Karnataka involved the misappropriation of around Rs 94 crore meant for Scheduled Tribes' welfare, with funds illegally transferred from Union Bank of India accounts to fake entities, implicating top officials, including former Minister Nagendra, in creating fake accounts and using funds for personal gain and elections.
"There is absolutely no development and there is highest level of corruption in Karnataka. There is zero progress and zero development,” he alleged.
Vijayendra further accused the state government of repeatedly blaming the Centre to “cover up its failures”, saying it claims that the central government is doing injustice to Karnataka.
Referring to the Hate Speech Bill passed by both Houses of the legislature in the recently concluded Assembly session in Belagavi, he alleged that the Siddaramaiah government was trying to suppress criticism and compared the move to the Emergency imposed in 1975 by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
"Why this hate speech bill? Because the Siddaramaiah government is unable to face the truth. They are trying to bring emergency. What happened in 1975 when Indira Gandhi brought emergency? the same policy has been followed by Siddaramaiah government. They are trying to attack media persons, they are also trying to stop social media users... They don't want any criticism," he said.
"We (BJP) are going to expose this Congress government, the failures of the Congress government, corruption of the Congress government. Corruption has gone to the peak," he alleged.
According to Vijayendra, investors were moving away from Karnataka due to what he termed the “anti-investor policies” of the state government.
Ather Electric scooters, Google and aerospace industries, which had earlier invested in Karnataka, were now moving away because of the state government’s "anti-investor policy".
"Youths are getting affected by this loss of employment. Inspite of this, nobody should question the state government. Is this democracy? Hence, we are questioning the state government and we want to expose this Congress government and its failures also," he added.
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EC hands over probe into gherao of seven judicial officers in Bengal's Malda to NIA
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission of India on Thursday handed over the probe into the gherao of the seven judicial officers in West Bengal's Malda district to the NIA, following a Supreme Court directive.
Observing that West Bengal was the "most polarised state", the Supreme Court delivered a stinging indictment of the state administration after seven judicial officers engaged in SIR exercise were held hostage by protesters in Malda district and directed a CBI or NIA probe into the incident.
In an April 2 letter to the National Investigating Agency, the poll body referred to the apex court's order and directed it to probe the Wednesday incident.
Talking to PTI, a top official of the poll body said the NIA team would reach West Bengal on Friday.
Slamming the state administration for its "complete failure" and inaction over the "deplorable" gherao and attack on the officers during the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of the voters list, the court also asked the EC to "requisition adequate Central Forces and deploy them at all places where judicial officers are adjudicating the objections".
West Bengal will have a two-phase poll -- on April 23 and 29.
The Supreme Court further said the incident was a "brazen attempt not only to browbeat the judicial officers" but also amounted to a challenge to the authority of this Supreme Court.
The top court gave the order after it took suo motu cognisance of a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court detailing a harrowing night where the judicial officers, including three women and a five-year-old child, were held captive by a mob for over nine hours without food or water.
The incident occurred during the SIR exercise in the Kaliachowk area of Malda district, and as per the order, seven judicial officers were gheraoed by "anti-social elements" at a BDO office starting at 3:30 PM on Wednesday.
The officers were rescued by security forces around midnight on Wednesday after they were gheraoed over the alleged deletion of names from the electoral rolls, officials said.
