BENGALURU: With the monsoon session of the legislature commencing on Monday, BJP legislators are all set to raise the Hublot watch gift case that had created a political turmoil during Siddaramiah’s tenure as CM in 2016. BJP legislators are likely to demand that the government hand over the case to the Lokayukta.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which was abolished recently, had given a clean chit to the Congress leader. BJP seems to be trying hard to corner Siddaramaiah even as the CLP leader continues to target the Bommai government over the 40% commission allegations among other issues.
During the recent Janaspandana event at Doddaballapura, CM Basavaraj Bommai and BJP state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel had said the party would expose all the scams of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.
BJP MLC N Ravikumar said 29 complaints were filed before ACB against Siddaramiah, but no FIR was filed. “None of us know the exact reason behind someone gifting an expensive watch. It was handed over to the state treasury. But the case was not taken to its logical end. We want a detailed probe” he said. He said the case was hushed up.
“It has to be clarified... Who gifted the watch and why? Is there any reason behind it ? Why would someone randomly give an expensive watch to the CM? There are many such unanswered questions,” he added.
Another BJP leader said the Lokayukta was dismantled to cover up the scams of the Siddaramaiah rule. “We will raise the issue in the session. If a Lokayukta probe is ordered, it has to come to the cabinet. We will take it to its logical conclusion,” the BJP leader added.
One month after its constitution in 2016, the ACB had received a complaint against Siddaramaiah seeking a probe into the Hublot episode. Siddaramaiah had claimed that he had received the watch as a gift from his NRI doctor friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma.