Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday dismissed protests by the Congress over a contractor’s death that has been linked to the state minister KS Eshwarappa. The family of the contractor, Santosh Patil, has sought justice, alleging that he was pushed to suicide because of the state minister and his aides. While an FIR has been registered against the Karnataka minister, the Congress has been seeking his resignation.
The chief minister on Thursday said the party did not have a “moral right” to do that. “The Congress doesn’t have any moral right to protest. Congress is a Gangotri of corruption. The postmortem (in the case) was done yesterday, and now a preliminary inquiry(report) will come. Based on that we’ll proceed,” Bommai was quoted as saying by news agency ANI while giving an update on the case and attacking the Congress in the same breath.
Eshwarappa has said he won’t quit. “It is the Congress which has been saying Eshwarappa should resign. There is no (death) note but they are spreading lies that there’s a death note and then asking for resignation,” the 73-year-leader said.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress’s DK Shivakumar on Wednesday led a team of party colleagues to governor Thawar Chand Gehlot’s office and urged him to dismiss the minister and “get him arrested”.
On Thursday, responding to Bommai’s criticism: DK Shivakumar told ANI: “The chief minister wants to save his corrupt minister. I think he is also part of this whole process. If he wants to save face of BJP and his government, then immediately arrest (KS Eshwarappa) and book a case of corruption.”On Wednesday, Karnataka State Contractors’ Association (KSCA) said they will expose ‘four to five ministers and around 25 MLAs’ if chief minister Basavaraj Bommai doesn’t meet them and resolve the issue of corruption.The KSCA has demanded an impartial inquiry into Patil’s death, either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or by a retired Supreme Court or high court judge.
According to Eshwarappa, the contractor gave “letters to Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union rural development and Panchayati Raj minister Giriraj Singh, alleging I have done work worth ₹4 crore and Eshwarappa’s aides are asking for a bribe. They have written to the state department in Karnataka. But we have written that there is no work order.”
