BENGALURU: A day after a letter that was allegedly written by officials of the Agriculture Department accusing Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy of corruption went viral, the state government decided to hand over the case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
After a discussion with Home Minister G Parameshwar on Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed him to handover the case to CID. Earlier, Cheluvarayaswamy wrote to the CM stating that some opposition leaders indulged in maligning his reputation. They are unhappy with the development projects being successfully implemented by the Congress government. Hence, they sent a letter accusing him of corruption to the governor.
Terming the letter fake, he said it will be difficult for the elected representatives to perform their duties in a free and fair manner if strict action is not taken against such people. The minister urged the CM to direct the police to conduct an inquiry and act against those behind it. Meanwhile, KPCC members have written to Parameshwar urging him to take action against those behind the letter accusing Cheluvarayaswamy of corruption.
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In their letter, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee members, including legislators PM Narendra Swamy and Dinesh Guligowda, and former MLC Ramesh Babu, stated that the agriculture minister is “doing a good job” and those who are unable to digest this have written to the governor accusing him of corruption.
Soon after the letter went viral on social media on Monday, opposition BJP, JDS and AAP demanded that Cheluvarayaswamy quit as agriculture minister. JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy even took to Twitter accusing Yathindra, son of the CM, of indulging in corruption.
Replying to Kumaraswamy’s tweet, Siddaramaiah said his allegation shows that he has lost his mental balance. “I can only wish you a speedy recovery,” he tweeted. Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy said a few people are carrying out a planned campaign to finish him off politically.
There is no need to name those behind the conspiracy as people can analyse what and why the conspiracy is being carried out against him after he became a minister, he added. He said he is not personally involved in department transfers. But politically vindictive people have cooked up fake documents, he said.