CBI closes in on brother of Karnataka BJP chief

mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore, Nov 21: The BJP has taken a serious jolt in Karnataka as the CBI corruption probe against the brother of party state unit chief Prahlad Joshi has reached a decisive stage.

 

Recently, Narendra Modi addressed a mega rally in Bangalore eyeing at least 22 parliamentary seats from the state. If the Congress makes a political issue out of this, it could affect the BJP’s prospects in the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Prahlad represents Dharwad (northwest Karnataka) in the Parliament.

His brother Gopal Joshi, a former employee of Canara Bank, is accused of using the MP’s office for more than two years to facilitate the financial scam.

The Congress is already demanding the resignation of Prahlad, citing the CBI’s FIR that his brother used the MP’s office for personal gains.

Karnataka is the only hope for the BJP in South India as its existence in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is negligible.

The state BJP leaders are working overtime to meet the target of 22 seats from Karnataka to fuel Modi’s prime ministerial dream, but the latest development is certain to impact the party’s performance.

Gopal is accused of misappropriating funds, thereby causing loss to the Canara Bank to the extent of Rs 1.08 crore. He was dismissed from service in January this year. He had allegedly diverted fixed deposits made by state government-owned companies in Canara Bank for personal gains.

Gopal allegedly used his brother’s official landline phone and fax machine in Hubli-Dharwad to prevail upon the government-owned companies to transfer the funds.

The bank fraud case, according to the CBI, is estimated to surpass "thousands of crores of rupees" and involves nine others against whom the FIR has been registered.

Gopal has approached the court seeking justice against his dismissal from service. He has also appealed at a lower court seeking an anticipatory bail.

The CBI registered a case and commenced probe after the Canara Bank head office, which detected the fraud, approached the probe agency.

The ruling Congress has demanded Prahlad’s resignation.

"I am told that the bank fraud case extends over Rs 1,200 crore. Prahlad should tender resignation immediately without waiting for the probe to be complete. He (Prahlad) calls himself anti-corruption crusader, but he has not looked into his own backyard," said Karnataka’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra.