Siddaramaiah defends son in ’cash for posting’ row, says ’phone call was on...’

mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, Nov 16, 2023: As the political controversy over Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son’s viral video, in which he asks his father to “work on a list” he has sent, gets louder, the Chief Minister stated on Thursday that the discussion with Yathindra Siddaramaia was about corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds and not about “cash for transfer,” as alleged by the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular).

 

In a video shared by several opposition leaders, including JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy, Yathindra can be heard talking to Siddaramaiah. He said, “I have given only five... Who is Vivekananda, Mahadevâ€æ I have not given that.”

Posting the video on X, Kumaraswamy accused Yathindra, a former MLA from Varuna, of being involved in a ’cash for posting’ scam.

However, rejecting the allegations, Siddharmaaiah said, “Yathindra was discussing the list of beneficiary schools for the development. Kumaraswamy has twisted this phone conversation which happened in front of the public to falsely attribute it to corruption in transfers.”

In a long post on X, the Chief Minister called the allegations an attempt to personally defame him and accused Kumaraswamy of having a sadistic mind.

"People of Karnataka have been seeing Kumaraswamy’s attempt to personally defame me since his party lost miserably in the elections. Now he has gone one step further to hurt my family for his ulterior political motives. This has exposed his sadistic mindset," he said.

Siddaramaiah added Kumaraswamy’s "false allegations are nothing but his cruel attempt to mentally disturb my son," who, according to him, "remains committed to the development of Varuna" constituency.

Attacking Congress over the video, Kumaraswamy earlier said that the video was proof that the job posting for money, ’Cash for Posting,’ scam being run in the state. He said, "Congress’ cash collection business has come to the fore. Do we need greater proof that Karnataka’s collection king father and son of Karnataka’s collection King have extorted money?" he said.

Talking to the media on Thursday, Kumaraswamy, however, said that "...We won’t leave this issue."

He asked, "Karnataka had some good governance before...but under this govt, what is going on for the last 5 months?..."

The BJP also came out against the Congress. Senior BJP leader and former minister R Ashoka called for an inquiry into the allegations.

Another BJP leader, CN Ashwath Narayan said, "Once again the YST (Yathindra Siddaramaiah Tax) has come to light.

"He is not even an elected member or a legislator. An inquiry must be conducted into this. The CM should tell whether he will take action under the law on this," Narayan stated.

Courtesy: India Today