Congress demands 'tainted' B S Yediyurappa's resignation

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday attacked the BJP over reported allegations of corruption against some family members of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in connection with a housing project and demanded a time-bound judicial probe into the matter.

When Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah had made the allegations against the chief minister in the Karnataka Assembly last month, Yediyurappa had dismissed them as "baseless" and challenged the Congress leader to prove the charges. Citing media reports, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi on Sunday alleged that the BJP government in Karnataka is "engulfed in the clutches of corruption with dented, tainted leaders ruling the roost".

"If the chief minister has the slightest sense of shame, he must resign or be sacked," Singhvi said. He also questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda over the reported allegations of corruption and kickbacks against the son, son-in-law, and grandson of Yediyurappa. The matter relates to a Rs 662-crore construction of an apartment project in Bengaluru, Singhvi said and claimed media reports have "disclosed direct involvement of close relatives like son, son-in-law and grandson in corruption and bribery in connection with the project."

"It has shocked the conscience of the entire country, but it appears that the BJP has no conscience," Singhvi said. The Congress leader cited a purported communication between a close relative of Yediyurappa and another person referring to a bribe paid by a contractor to a top Bengaluru Development Authority official. Singhvi claimed that an additional bribe was sought and paid through shell companies in Kolkata. He said the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act must be invoked and the allegations probed.

"The most remarkable and virtually admitted allegations of unabashed corruption and we don't even find a criminal investigation," Singhvi said, adding that even an FIR was not filed. "We demand...appoint a sitting Supreme Court (judge) or a sitting Chief Justice of a High Court as an inquirer for two months," he said.

This is "fraud, fakeness and fiddling" which has made BJP a party of "jugglers" who are indulging in "jiggery-pokery", he said in a swipe at the ruling party. The Congress has been accusing the Yediyurappa government of indulging in corruption, a charge it has categorically denied. PTI