BJP isolated on corruption issue
The corruption issue dominated the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday with the main Opposition BJP appearing to be isolated on the issue, as the Congress, JD(S) and many other parties attacked Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. The saffron party, however, tried to hit back by demanding sacking of a tainted minister in the Delhi government.
Even as the BJP members forced a brief adjournment of the House, Speaker Meira Kumar allowed former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda to speak on the issue. Mr Deve Gowda, whose speech was lost in the din, alleged that an educational trust floated by the family of the Karnataka chief minister got donations of `27 crores from various companies, whose paid capital was only `1 lakh.
Suggesting that a quid-pro-quo was involved in the matter, Mr Gowda, who is also a former chief minister of Karnataka, claimed that he had all the document to prove the allegations.
Mr Gowda, who had vocal support from the SP, RJD and the Left parties, alleged that Mr Yeddyurappa, in collusion with the local officials, was involved in the irregularities.
Meanwhile, coming strongly in support of Mr Gowda, Jagadambika Pal of the Congress said that the Prerna Education Trust was floated by the Yeddyurappa family to get donations. Mr Gowda regretted that “the party of Atal Behari Vajpayee, who had raised the issue of corruption of A.R. Antulay, was not allowing him to draw the attention to the alleged irregularities of Mr Yeddyurappa”.
The BJP chose to train its guns on the Congress government in Delhi and demanded sacking of minister Rajkumar Chauhan in the wake of the adverse findings against him by the lokayukta.
“The case against Mr Chauhan was serious and he should be sacked immediately,” Shahnawaz Hussain of the BJP said.
When Congress members were protesting against Mr Hussain’s comments, BJP member Nishikant Dubey posed a query to the Chair as to how she had allowed the issue to be raised twice.
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