Siddaramaiah detained for protest seeking arrest of tainted BJP MLA Bengaluru: Several Congress leaders including State Congress in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were detained by Karnataka police following their protest against the Karnataka government in Bengaluru demanding the CM Basavaraj Bommai quits taking up moral responsibility.
They also demanded the arrest of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa whose son was caught taking bribe. A huge tranche of cash to the tune of more than Rs. 8 crore have been seized from the legislator's son's premises. The Congress leaders attempted to take out a rally to Bommai's residence.
They were stopped by the police near the Congress Bhavan on Race Course Road and were taken into custody by the police. The leaders were then whisked away one by one after they refused to drop their stir to lay siege. KPCC president DK Shivakumar, former Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, KPCC working president Ramalingareddy, along with local unit leaders, MPs, MLAs, and KPCC local cadres who participated in the protest courted arrest.
Speaking during the protest, Randeep Surjewala said that the infamy of the Bommai government in Karnataka so much so that it should be renamed with 'corrupt' as its adjective and hence be called the corrupt Bommai government. Wherever Bommai visits across India, the infamous 40 percent commission of the Karnataka government bid welcomes him in posters, he said.
He said the people of the entire state are aware of the 40 percent government scam. There is a stench of corruption in the soap of the Mysore sandal soap factory run by you and your government. He questioned the scale of corruption running in the government which has become too low that they had not spared even the soap which is sold at Rs. 20.
The Congress cadres gathered in huge numbers and sought the immediate arrest of the BJP leader as it was impossible for the son and father not to share the prospects between them. They alleged that the ruling party politician was in the know of things that it was his son who was into it and the politico must be a beneficiary as well. The Congress cadres were wearing mask of the BJP MLA and were carrying brief cases stashed with game currency wads. One of them played the character of the Virupakshappa as collecting money and showcasing the wads of the currencies before the media.
On Thursday, Lokayukta sleuths raided the premises of the lawmaker's son Prashanth Madal following the allegations of the latter demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 40 lakh. Prashanth was the chief accountant of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
He was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe from a contractor at the Karnataka Soap and Detergents Limited (KSDL) office. KSDL who make 'Mysore Sandal' is chaired by the tainted MLA. The officials recovered unaccounted cash of over Rs. 8 crore from the house Prashanth Madal after his arrest for allegedly accepting the bribe.
