BENGALURU: After the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) seized 40 kg of gold worth over Rs 50 crore from Congress MLA KC Veerendra in an illegal online betting case, JDS and BJP said the Congress leadership was putting pressure on the party leaders to raise money for Bihar polls.
LoP in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, said he had received information that Veerendra had agreed to give Rs 300 crore to the Congress leadership ahead of the Bihar elections after the party agreed to make him a minister.
He said the ED has seized properties worth around Rs 400 crore during the raids. Not just Veerendra, hundreds of families in the Congress have indulged in corruption, he said.
LoP in Assembly R Ashoka said if the MLA was trying to become a minister by agreeing to give Rs 300 crore to the party for the Bihar elections, one can imagine to what extent the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Ministers can go to save their posts.
They make money by illegal means like gambling and betting and use it to win elections and to become ministers, he said, and added that for Telangana elections and the Lok Sabha elections, thousands of crores, including funds from the Valmiki Corporation, were siphoned off and now, who knows how much of Kannadigas’ tax money will be looted for the Bihar elections? Ashoka said the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who uses such tainted money for elections, has no moral authority to talk about the electoral process.
Taking to social media platform X, JDS alleged that the Congress high command has made Karnataka its ATM and has started collecting funds from its leaders for the Bihar elections, by assuring them of making ministers.