Bengaluru: Opposition BJP in Karnataka on Sunday demanded Minister C Puttaranga Shetty’s resignation after huge amounts of cash was seized from a staffer who allegedly worked at his office at the state secretariat here.
The BJP held demonstrations at Ballari, Ramanagara, Yadgir, Kalburgi, Hubballi-Dharwad, and Kolar among other places. They demanded fair investigation into the matter and immediate resignation of Shetty.
Speaking to reporters in Dharwad, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa cited the incident as an evidence of rampant corruption under the JDS-Congress coalition government in Karnataka.
Based on a tip-off, a typist identified as Mohan working in Puttaranga Shetty’s office was caught with Rs 25.76 lakh by the police on Friday evening at Vidhana Soudha premises. According to police sources, investigation was on and the case was likely to be transferred to the state anti-corruption bureau.
The seizure had snowballed into a major controversy on Saturday with the BJP and a senior leader of ruling coalition partner JD(S) demanding the resignation of the Congress minister. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, however, had said he would wait for the police to complete the investigation before taking any action.
While stating that only investigation can bring out the truth, Pradesh Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao had on Saturday said Rs 26 lakh was miniscule against the Rs 30,000 crore Rafale scam.
The BJP has been opposing the formation of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Rafale deal and denying allegations in the matter. Speaking at a party meeting here, BJP General Secretary and MLC Ravi Kumar Sunday hit out at Rao for his comments and said, “Dinesh Gundu Rao should be ashamed to speak like this. What ideal your party has?”