Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday demanded an inquiry into former Karnataka State Minority Commission chairman Anwar Manippadi’s allegations that BJP state president and MLA BY Vijayendra offered him Rs 1,150 crore to hide his report on Waqf. Encroachments.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the legislature’s winter session, Kharge showed videos where Manippadi had accused Vijayendra in the past. This came after the BJP state president objected to the allegations leveled against him during a discussion on waqf property held on Friday.
Kharge said he would request the home minister to investigate the matter where Vijayendra allegedly met Manippadi to cover up his report on encroachment of waqf properties worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore by influential politicians. “Let there be an inquiry into the matter… Congress has not made the allegations, but the BJP spokesperson has been appointed as the head of the Minority Commission.”
Playing a Manippadi video shot a few years ago, where he criticized Vijayendra for asking him to “quote a sum”, Kharge said BJP parliamentary board member and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and Vijayendra were accused by their own party workers. Hide reports.
On Vijayendra’s demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter, the minister asked why the BJP and RSS leadership did not investigate the encroachment despite Manipadi writing to them about widespread irregularities.
Speaking in the first part of the session on Monday, Vijayendra refuted the allegations against him. “I challenge Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to conduct a CBI probe into the allegations that I offered Rs 150 crore (to Manipadi). Along with this, there should be a CBI probe into the Manipadi report and the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) scam where the CM is accused,” he said. He also asked Congress MPs to apologize for making baseless allegations against him.
The Manippadi Report was ordered in 2012-13 during Jagdish Shettar’s tenure as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Although it was submitted to the state government in March 2016, it was rejected by the then Congress government after placing it in the cabinet.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had defended his cabinet colleague Kharge regarding the allegations against Vijayendra. After the former Minority Commission chairman rocked the Legislative Assembly on Friday with his comments, the Chief Minister denied the accusations he had made, saying, “Manippadi has made such statements in the past too…if he denies it now, what can be done?”
Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters that Manippadi was threatened to retract his statement about the BJP president offering him a bribe. He said, ‘We discuss and discuss the future course of action.
Although the BJP was hoping to corner the ruling Congress on the Waqf notice, the treasury benches managed to take the wind out of the Opposition’s sails after Kharge released footage of him making Manippadi allegations against Yeddyurappa and Vijayendra during Friday’s debate. Soon after, Siddaramaiah demanded a CBI probe against Vijayendra, while the BJP state president called the allegations baseless.
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