SIT formed to give clean chit to Cong leaders: K’taka BJP

Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP said on Thursday that the state government formed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to give clean chit to the Congress leaders involved in various cases.

“The government has appointed the SIT and entrusted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe scams only to give clean chits to its leaders,” said the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy while addressing a press conference at BJP's state office, Jagannath Bhavan in Bengaluru.

He said that if the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had not intervened, the Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board scam would have been buried, adding that when the case went to the CBI, it was revealed there was financial misconduct involving money laundering, leading to the ED’s investigation.

He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah maintained that the tribal welfare board scam was real, but he claimed it was only Rs 87 crore and not Rs 187 crore case.

“Even after accepting the truth, no action was taken,” Narayanaswamy stated.

He added that the probe revealed that Rs 20 crore in the tribal welfare scam was used for expenses of the Congress MP E. Tukaram in the Bellary Lok Sabha constituency, and the ED report mentions that part of the money was also made on jailed former minister B. Nagendra's personal expenses.

He further stated that if the Chief Minister had any self-respect, belief in democracy, or respect for the Constitution, he should have resigned by now.

“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has concealed the truth of the Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board case, similar to the MUDA case,” he said.

Narayanaswamy also maintained that one of the court’s orders stated that obtaining 14 sites was illegal, and another court questioned how the sites were acquired when any land was not available in the MUDA case.

“All procedures in allotment of sites were bogus, and done with the Chief Minister’s influence and position. The MUDA and tribal welfare cases prove the Chief Minister’s involvement in corruption. Siddaramaiah must resign. Returning the property won’t make the thief a better person,” he said.

He said that the ED submitted a report to the Special Court for Public Representatives on Wednesday, in which it named jailed former minister B. Nagendra as the mastermind behind the Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board scam.

“Siddaramaiah had previously maintained that just some officials were responsible and action would be taken against them in the scam,” said Narayanaswamy.

He added that since the Chief Minister also heads the Finance Department, it’s impossible that this could have happened without his knowledge.

“The ED report lists 24 names, including Satyanarayana Verma, Satyanarayana, J.P. Padmanabha, Nageshwara Rao, Nekkunti Nagaraj, Vijayakumar Gowda, and others. Despite knowing all this, Siddaramaiah handed over the investigation to SIT to cover up Nagendra’s involvement,” said Narayanaswamy.

He also criticised the government's inefficiency, stating that the delay in resolving the issue of protest by gram panchayat officials, stating that it is causing trouble to gram panchayat officials and staff.