Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Contractors' Association on Monday alleged that they had paid a bribe of Rs 90 lakhs to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chitradurga MLA Tippa Reddy from 2019-2022 for undertaking various construction and development projects in the state. The association members released a purported conversation on WhatsApp and the audio of the conversation with the MLAs seeking money before the media.
According to them, at least 14 MLAs and three or four ministers were involved in the alleged extortion. The association's working president Manjunath accused an MLA of arm-twisting an assistant executive engineer to collect bribes from the contractors. He claimed that he paid money to the MLA directly and also through engineers. "I've been giving the bribe to the BJP MLA in installments since 2019," Manjunath alleged.
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The contractor claimed that a total of Rs 90 lakhs has been given to Tippa Reddy in the form of commission from 2019 till date. He claimed that he had paid Rs 20 lakhs for hospital construction work, Rs 12.5 lakhs for PWD works, Rs 10 lakhs during the COVID first wave and Rs 12 lakhs during the second wave. Apart from this, he paid Rs 22 lakhs for the formation of a residential layout and its approval from a competent authority in Chitradurga.
Manjunath charged the said MLA with demanding Rs 30 lakhs as 'advance commission'. The association's allegations come at a time when the Congress mounted an attack on the BJP accusing it of running an alleged 40 per cent commission government. The Congress has been referring to an incident wherein a contractor died by suicide accusing the then Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa of demanding a 40 per cent commission. The BJP, however, dismissed the allegations by saying there was no credible evidence to act on its partymen.
