BENGALURU: The BJP on Friday sought an unconditional apology from former CM Siddaramaiah and state Congress president DK Shivakumar over allegations of misappropriation of Rs 2,000 crore in the purchase of equipment to fight Covid. The party has sent legal notices.
The Congress leaders hit back at the BJP by reiterating the charges against the government. BJP general secretary and MLC N Ravi Kumar, who sent the notices, said the allegations are politically motivated. The statistics provided by the Congress leaders on July 23 are far from truth and misleading. It was done with the motive of tarnishing the BJP government’s image, he said.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had alleged that Rs 2,000 crore has been misappropriated in the purchase of equipment, including ventilators and PPE kits and also accused the government of purchasing poor quality equipment at higher prices. The Congress had demanded a judicial probe by a high court judge. BJP ministers had turned down the demand for a probe.
“Shivakumar, who had gone to Tihar jail on corruption charges, has no moral right to speak about corruption. During 2013 elections, his assets were Rs 251 crore. How did it go up to Rs 840 crore in 2018? Can he explain,” Ravi asked.