SHIVAMOGGA: Lashing out at the BJP, former MLA and Congress leader Belur Gopalakrishna on Friday said that a few leaders of the saffron party are busy criticising the Congress and making derogatory comments against some of its senior leaders whereas some of its leaders themselves were caught watching objectionable videos in the Assembly and some others are accused of rape. They don’t have any right to speak about the Congress, he said.
Speaking to reporters, Gopalakrishna condemned Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s recent statement on Rahul Gandhi. Those criticising the Congress and its leaders will be relegated by their own party in the next Assembly elections, he forewarned.
Pointing out that there are no stocks of chemical fertilizers with the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments, he alleged that they are being sold in black market. “How do chemical fertilizers enter the black market? Their prices have skyrocketed,” he alleged. Gopalakrishna also accused State Government Employees’ Association president C S Shadakshari and a BJP leader of being involved in a big transfer scam involving hundreds of crores.
“From Rs 50 lakh for a police inspector’s transfer to Rs 20 crore for a posting as BDA Commissioner, they are looting money,” he alleged. He demanded that the state government and the Enforcement Directorate conduct a raid on Shadakshari’s properties to unearth the ill-gotten wealth.
Commenting on Revenue Minister R Ashoka immersing unclaimed ashes (pinda pradhana) and conducting the last rites of Covid-19 victims, he taunted that the minister had done so out of guilt as many people died due to lack of medical facilities.