Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar have been issued summons by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bengaluru. This comes after the former ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a defamation complaint against the trio and other Congress leaders on May 9.
The complaint was filed by BJP state secretary S Keshavaprasad. It said that Congress’s ads published in multiple newspapers about the alleged 40% commission scam of the BJP government were baseless, defamatory and prejudiced. The ads published by the Congress on May 6 not only referred to the 40% commission alleged by the Contractors Association, but also others, such as the 30% commission allegations by a top Lingayat seer, and complaints of having to pay a commission made by schools' association.
The advertisement also included infamous scams like the police sub-inspector recruitment (PSI), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) scams which Congress alleged had happened during the term of the BJP government.
The Congress had run another similar newspaper campaign a day before, on May 5, calling the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government the most corrupt government. It had also stated that the BJP had looted the state of over Rs 1,50,000 lakh crore. The BJP had filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI), following which, the ECI sent a notice to the Congress party asking it to submit ‘empirical’ evidence to substantiate its allegations.
The special court which deals with cases related to sitting and former MP/MLAs, took cognisance of the offences under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and posted the matter to July 27.