Mysuru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the Hindenburg report and the Manipur violence, as he hit back at the latter, for raising the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case against him, to target the Congress during poll campaign in Haryana.

Alleging that there are many corrupt people in the BJP, he asked the prime minister to correct things within his party first.

"There are many corrupt people in his party (BJP). Let him correct it first. Why doesn't Narendra Modi speak about Hindenburg (report)? on Manipur? Why hasn't he visited Manipur? Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha) has raised these issues. Why don't he speak on that?" Siddaramaiah asked in response to a question by reporters.

Targeting the Congress over the issue of corruption, Modi, addressing a poll rally in Haryana's Sonipat on Wednesday, had cited an example of Congress-ruled Karnataka, saying Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was facing an accusation of land scam and even the high court has also stated that the probe against him was right.

Lokayukta police on Friday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Siddaramaiah and others in the MUDA site allotment case, following a Special Court in Bengaluru on Wednesday ordering a Lokayukta police probe against him.

The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B M Parvathi by MUDA.

The Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs issued the order directing the Lokayukta police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation on the complaint filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna.

On Congress MLA and senior advocate A S Ponnanna meeting him today, following the FIR, the chief minister said, "he is my legal advisor. I discuss with him every day. His visit is not special. Every day he discusses things with me. He was on his way to his constituency (Virajpet), as I was in Mysuru he met me."

Responding to a question on certain allegations made against him by JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Siddaramaiah said, "Kumaraswamy only speaks lies. I cannot respond to all that he says. I won't respond."

 

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Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.

The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.

"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.

The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.

There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.

Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.

The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.