BackKarnataka polls: Congress asks election commission to disqualify BJP’s Sriramulu
The bribery allegation against BJP's Sriramulu has given the Congress more ammunition to attack the BJP, its main contender in the fight for power in Karnataka
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Bengaluru:The Congress party on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India seeking the immediate disqualification of B.Sriramulu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and kingpin of Karnataka’s illegal mining baron G.Janardhana Reddy, over allegations of trying to bribe a relative of a Supreme Court judge for a favourable verdict.
The party called the alleged findings of the video and its agenda as the ‘emergence of grave corrupt practices including bribery of a judge’ by Sriramulu, the BJP’s candidate in Molakalmuru and Badami.
“In a forty-minute video that has been made public and broadcast widely in the regional Kannada media on the evening of May 10, 2018, it is clearly seen that the candidate Shri.B.Sriramulu and three other individuals (identified as G.Janardhana Reddy, Captain Reddy and Swamiji) are seen sitting with the son-in-law of a former Chief Justice of India.
“The discussions between them, as seen in the video and reported by the media, relate to the payment of money to the son-in-law to secure a favourable judgement of the SC for the Reddy brothers. Upon viewing the video, there can be no doubt as to the agenda of the meeting taking place," the Congress said in its memorandum.
The allegations by the Congress comes a day before the state heads to the polls. The issue has given the Congress party more ammunition to attack the BJP, its main contender in the fight for power in Karnataka. Though the central leadership of the BJP has denied any involvement with Janardhana Reddy, the latter has been campaigning for the party and particularly Sriramulu in Molakalmuru (Chitradurga district).
The BJP has fielded at least six candidates closely related to Reddy, including fielding Sriramulu against Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah in Badami.
The Congress said that the video was taken in 2010, the peak of illegal iron ore mining in Ballari and surrounding districts in Karnataka. The illegal mining controversy, apart from causing huge losses to the state exchequer and irreparable environmental damage, led the collapse of the BJP government. Since then the party has been grappling with a perception battle on corruption that continues to this day.
Using the controversial video as evidence, the Congress alleged that in 2010 there was ‘indeed a favourable finding by the Supreme Court allowing the Reddy brothers to continue their operations’.
The Congress has requested that the Sriramulu be disqualified from contesting elections and also to lift any injunction on the Kannada television channels or other media from showing or playing the video.
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