KALABURAGI: Kalaburagi district unit President of the Congress Party Jagadev Guttedar has said in a press note issued here on Monday that Block Congress president of Kalaburagi-South Rural Lingaraj Kanni has been expelled from the primary membership of the Party on Monday following the reports appearing in the media about his involvement in drug trafficking.
Lingraj Kanni was arrested by Kalyan Police of Maharashtra at Thane City allegedly for selling narcotic substances and seized 120 bottles of banned codeine syrup from his possession. He has been remanded to judicial custody. Maharashtra police arrested totally 3 persons including Lingaraj Kanni and Irfan Ibrahim of Kalaburagi district and the car driver. The arrest of the trio came to light on Sunday.
It is said that Lingaraj Kanni is the close follower of rural development Minister Priyank Kharge and Kalaburagi-South MLA Allamaprabhu Patil.
Priyank Kharge who reacted on the incident has said that “He is an office-bearer — that we cannot deny. But calling him a ‘close aide’ has become a habit for the BJP. After the news broke, he was immediately suspended from the party. I believe he was caught peddling some cough syrups worth around Rs 27,000. But whether it is Rs 27,000 or Rs 27 crore, breaking the law is unacceptable to the party. If he has done something wrong, we have taken appropriate action,” Kharge said.
Kharge also hit out at the BJP, accusing it of double standards. “The same BJP, which is now demanding accountability, should first act against the POCSO-accused in their own party,” the minister said. He called for action against a BJP MLA accused of rape and insulting a village, as well as BJP leaders’ children from Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada allegedly involved in crimes against women.