Bengaluru, Nov 15 (IANS): Challenging the Congress government’s allegations of corruption by the BJP government during the Covid pandemic, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday stated that delays in procurement during pandemic could have been disastrous at that point.
Speaking at a press conference, Ashoka stated that only the preliminary report of the Covid investigation report has been released. “The whole world was bearing the brunt of the Covid pandemic. Let them disclose the prices of specific medical items during the pandemic first. Let them also disclose, for how much price the PPE kits were purchased in other states as well,” he said.
“If the previous government would not have made purchases on an emergency basis and waited 60 days for the tender process the consequences would have been disastrous and everything would have finished,” said Ashoka.
He added that the officers needed to be questioned on this and the complete report on the Covid scam should be released on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
The Karnataka Congress government on Thursday has decided to form the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the alleged Covid scam during the previous BJP government.
“The world faced a big tragedy during COVID-19 and our state also suffered a big tragedy. The then government, which had to protect people inhumanly indulged in corruption, irresponsibility, cheating towards people, concealing matters and hiding of records,” stated Minister for Law M.B. Patil.
Talking about the results of bypoll held for the high-profile Channapatna constituency, Ashoka mentioned that NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy has already won.
“The Congress party lost the support of people following the humiliating “Kaala Kumaraswamy” racist remark by Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan,” Ashoka pointed out.
Talking about the ‘Operation Lotus’ charge by CM Siddaramaiah, Ashoka stated, that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's resignation might be approaching, and therefore he has been discussing the cost of buying legislators. The ED will have to question the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to uncover further details.
He further urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to disclose the source of the Rs 2,500 crore allegedly meant to buy 50 MLAs, as well as the person involved in the attempted purchase.