Bengaluru, Jul 3 ((IANS): The Karnataka chapter of Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Monday demanded appointment of vigilance officers in all departments of the state government.

Brijesh Kalappa, President of AAP's communication wing, said in a press conference, "The fact that an ordinary tehsildar indulged in corruption of more than Rs 1,500 crore as found during the recent Lokayukta raids shows that corruption is widespread in the state government."

The people of the state are questioning whether successive governments turned a blind eye to corruption for so many years, he said. During the tenure of Siddaramaiah in 2016, an order was passed to appoint vigilance officersineverydepartment, Kalappa stated.

"I was the Chief Minister's legal advisor then. Why even after two months of coming to power, the Chief Minister has not appointed vigilanceofficers in all the departments," he asked.

Kalappa also said that if Siddaramaiah is aware of the widespread corruption in different important government departments and yet remains silent on this issue, people of the state will think that the Chief Minister is pro-corruption.

Kalappa continued, "The burden of cases in the Lokayukta is already too much. You need to set up a vigilance cell in everydepartment of the government and appointofficersimmediately.

"You should appoint chief vigilance officers in the CMO and appoint honest officers to various departments. If you fail to remove corruption, it will mean that you have failed to fulfil the guarantees provided by you. If our suggestions are not implemented in the near future, the Aam Aadmi Party will have to resort to protest."