BENGALURU: A day after Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara claimed that no chargesheet has been filed against Planning and Statistics Minister B Nagendra, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the assembly, R Ashoka said that there are 31 cases filed against the Ballari Rural MLA, including cases filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Lokayukta.
Meanwhile, the Opposition members created a ruckus in the Assembly for the fourth consecutive day demanding that Nagendra be dropped from the cabinet.
“The Deputy CM has misled the Assembly with his statement saying Nagendra does not have any case against him. Of the 31 cases, CBI has filed chargesheet against Nagendra in three cases, where he is the prime accused,” Ashoka said in the Assembly, alleging that the Congress high command has taken money from Nagendra to reinstate him in the cabinet.
Ashoka even questioned the State Government why they were wasting public money and session time to protect one minister. Slamming the State Government, Ashoka said that just to defend one minister, there is a breach of privilege of all 223 MLAs in the house. He said that they will protest till Nagendra resigns from his post.
Ashoka said he can furnish the complete records of the cases against Nagendra.
“Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwara is saying there is no case. I can provide the numbers. He said Rs 187 crore belongs to Dalits who are waiting to avail the financial aid, but the government has misused it,” he said.
Further, Ashoka said the officer who died by suicide, P Chandrashekaran, had named Nagendra in his death note. “The deceased’s family has neither got any compensation nor a job on compassionate grounds. But the main accused, who resigned from the Siddaramaiah cabinet, has been reinstated,” Ashoka said.
When Assembly Speaker GS Patil and Ruling party members insisted on discussing drought, Ashoka said that it was shameful that the State Government was yet to declare drought. “The government is not ready to accept that Karnataka is facing severe drought. This is because they do not have funds to allocate for drinking water and other drought-related activities. There is no point in discussing (drought) without releasing funds,” he added.
Later, BJP members even protested outside the House demanding Nagendra’s resignation. Ashoka told reporters that Nagendra was trying to protect himself by playing the Dalit card. “The Congress has to decide whether they need crores of Dalits or one Nagendra. They have to ask Nagendra to step down to safeguard the poor,” Ashoka said.
He also said that issues such as drought, Bidadi Township, scam in KPSC, NICE row and other issues need to be discussed in the Assembly. “But the Congress government is stubbornly holding on to its position for the sake of one person and wasting the time of the House,’’ he added.