Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, May 17: State BJP president, B S Yeddyurappa, feels that a number of corrupt cases with which Siddaramaiah-led state cabinet is involved would have come into the open and several members of the cabinet would have been behind the bars if the state had a strong and assertive Lokayukta.

In a strong retort to Siddaramaiah's statement that neither he nor his cabinet colleagues are facing any charge sheet, and his assertion that people who had been jailed in the past have lost the moral right to speak about him and his government, Yeddyurappa said the statement of the CM is worthless. He criticized the chief minister of making it a habit to speak lightly of others.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP office here on Tuesday May 16, Yeddyurappa stated that credit for weakening the Lokayukta institution that had a strong presence in Karnataka in the past goes to the current chief minister. "If the Lokayukta was functioning properly, the deeds of the government would have been laid bare by now. But, in order to conceal his corrupt practice, Siddaramaiah destroyed that institution," he reasoned.

He cited excamples of irregularities connected with Matrix Imaging Solutions Pvt Ltd owned by CM's son, Yathindra, corruption in rural development and panchayat raj department, water resources department, PWD etc. He said that on account of corruption, some have been forced to resign. Yeddyurappa lamented the fact that many have escaped from getting incarcerated because of the fact that the Lokayukta is not strong now.

He also gave out facts and figures to compare the grants released by his government and the current one to various sectors. He stated that except a couple of departments, in all departments, BJP government had given more grant in comparison to the present government.