BENGALURU: A day after Ballari Rural MLA B Nagendra’s resignation from the Karnataka cabinet, the Opposition BJP has decided to go ahead with its 10-day padayatra against the State Government.
Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru, after releasing the logo of the padayatra, former minister and senior BJP leader B Sriramulu said the padayatra will start from Lingasugur in Raichur district on September 1, and end in Ballari on September 10. It will cover nine assembly segments.
The BJP leader said the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had admitted that Rs 87 crore from the Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation was transferred to other accounts. The funds diverted from the ST development corporation were used for defeating the BJP candidates in many constituencies in the Lok Sabha polls, Sriramulu said.
The BJP leader said that Chief Minister DK Shivakumar did not defend Nagendra and was also thinking of getting his resignation.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka said Nagendra resigned because of the continuous struggle waged by the BJP–JDS both inside and outside the legislature, and the State Government was cornered with documents.
“We have taught Congress a lesson that there is no escape if Dalit funds are looted,” Ashoka said.
The BJP leader said that Rs 187 crore had gone to Telangana. “There is precise information on this in the CBI and Directorate of Enforcement chargesheets. If Nagendra was innocent as claimed by DK Shivakumar, he would not have been an accused in the chargesheets,” he said.
Ashoka said the family of P Chandrashekaran, the ST Development Corporation officer, who died by suicide after exposing the scam, has still not been given pension and other benefits. The State Government announced that it would give his son a job and has not even done that, he said.
Hitting out at the Congress, which accused BJP of targeting a Dalit leader, Ashoka questioned is Nagendra the only Dalit in the whole of Karnataka? “The Dalits’ Rs 187 crore should have been used for development of Dalit areas, their children’s schools and employment schemes. When we say we are fighting for this, how does it become an anti-Dalit stand?” he questioned.
The BJP leader alleged that the FSL report prepared by the SIT also has details of chats between Nagendra and others. The Congress government has used SC/ST funds for guarantees, and that too will become a reason for Dalit anger in the days ahead, he said.
Leader of Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said the BJP will continue its fight against the anti-Dalit policies of the Congress government and is going ahead with the padayatra. The government has diverted Rs 53,000 crore meant for the welfare of SC/ST development for other purposes, he said.
