BENGALURU: The FIR registered against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other BJP leaders in a complaint related to the now-scrapped electoral bonds scheme has come as a shot in the arm for the Congress to attack the saffron party.
With the BJP demanding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s resignation following an FIR against him over the MUDA issue, the Congress is now demanding Nirmala’s resignation from the Union Cabinet. Nirmala is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.
“Yesterday, a Special Court for the People’s Representatives in Bengaluru ordered the filing of an FIR against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in connection with the electoral bond scam. As per the BJP leaders’ logic, Nirmala Sitharaman should resign now, right?” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on ‘X’.
Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board chairman Dr Ajay Dharam Singh went a step ahead and sought the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah too.
Before the FIR against Nirmala, the Congress's top leadership, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, took a dig at the BJP, asking if Prime Minister Narendra Modi resigned after the Godhra riots in 2002. Even CM Siddaramaiah had raised the same issue to defend himself, saying that he would not resign as he had done no wrong in the MUDA episode.
DyCM refuses to comment
Deputy CM and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar refused to comment on the FIR registered against Nirmala Sitharaman saying that he was not fully aware of the case. On the FIR against Siddaramaiah, the DyCM said, “I have already spoken enough about it. The Congress president has made the party’s stand clear. I do not want to keep talking about the issue.” Before leaving for Delhi from Bengaluru,
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, too, said that he would comment on the issue of the FIR registered against Nirmala Sitharaman and others after going through the details once he landed in the National Capital.