Valmiki Corporation scam: BJP to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha on July 15

Former minister V Sunil Kumar told reporters that the protest would not only demand the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is directly involved in MUDA and Valmiki Corporation scams, but would also seek his public apology prior to laying siege to Vidhana Soudha.

Bengaluru: A meeting of the Karnataka BJP office-bearers on Thursday decided to lay siege to Vidhana Soudha on July 15 in protest against the ruling Congress diverting funds under Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) to implement the five guarantees as well as the alleged multicrore funds’ transfer scam of Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation.

After the meeting, former minister V Sunil Kumar told reporters that the protest would not only demand the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who is directly involved in MUDA and Valmiki Corporation scams but also seek his public apology prior to laying siege to Vidhana Soudha. 

Kumar said the party has decided to invite all SC/ST leaders from Gram Pachanyat to state level to hold a protest rally and highlight all wrong doings of the ruling party. 

Apart from this, the meeting also decided to complete the exercise of convening  district and Mandal (taluk) unit office-bearers’ meeting by July 30 to ensure that the party machinery functions smoothly and launch state-wide agitations to highlight the rising corruption level in the government, scams, such as site alotment and siphoning of funds meant for Dalits and zero development, since the ruling Congress that came to power 14 months ago.

“Along with the follies of the Congress, the BJP will also highlight our previous government’s pro-Dalit measures, such as increasing reservation as well as recommendation of internal reservation within SCs and utilising funds meant for the SC/ST,” Kumar explained and added that the primary objective of holding the protest is to highlight how Congress and its leaders are anti-Dalit. 

He added that the meeting also decided to chalk out strategies to face the forthcoming bypolls to three Legislative Assembly seats - Shiggaon, Channapatna and Sandur and an MLC seat which fell vacant after former chief ministers, Basavaraj Bommai, H D Kumaraswamy and E Thukaram and Leader of the Opposition in Council Kota Srinivasa Poojary respectively resigned as members after they moved to New Delhi after winning Lok Sabha polls. Earlier in the day, BJP state president B Y VIjayendra asserted that the state BJP would fight inside and outside the Vidhana Soudha against the ruling Congress for pursuing anti-people policies since it came to power last year.

“With MUDA sites and Valmiki ST Development Corporation scams coming out in the public, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s image of pro-Dalit leader has been shattered. These scams have exposed his government’s anti-Dalit stance. Apart from this, his government had quietly diverted more than Rs 24,500 cr annually meant for SC/ST development,” he alleged.