The leader of the opposition in Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, said on Saturday, July 20 that the BJP's goal is that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should resign, the duped Dalit community members should get their money back, and the culprits in the tribal welfare board scam should be punished. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Bengaluru, Ashoka claimed the Congress government has made a clear decision to cover up the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) scam.
"The mask of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has fallen off, revealing how clean he really is. The CM is shifting the blame for the tribal welfare board scam to his officials. The CM has given himself a clean chit, and blamed his officials for all the mistakes. If the officials are at fault, what was the Chief Minister doing? If an official has made a mistake, why is he continuing in the same position," Ashoka asked.
The senior BJP leader also claimed that the state government has put people's money in fraudulent accounts. "Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has no role in this. The bank officials wanted to hand over the probe to the CBI. But the state government handed it over to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to cover up things. The CM is scared. I have provided over 40 records, but the CM has not made any clarification on them. Instead, he has blamed (MD of the ST corporation) JG Padmanabha for everything,” Ashoka said.
He added that if the ministers were not at fault, why did B Nagendra resign? "This means the CM abandoned him halfway. Nagendra and Basanagouda Daddal worked hard for the Lok Sabha elections, collected funds for the Congress, and sent them to Telangana," the LoP claimed. “We are ready to investigate all the 21 scam allegations levelled against the previous BJP government by the Chief Minister. Let him step down from his post, and give us the authority,” he added.