Bengaluru, Nov 12 (DHNS): The Congress high command is learnt to have directed the party’s state unit to submit a report on the issue of Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait watching pornography at a public function.
Sources in the state unit of the Congress said that AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, has asked Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara to send the report at the earliest. A private Kannada news channel had caught on camera Sait watching pornography on his mobile phone at a Tipu Jayanti function in Raichur on Thursday.
The Opposition parties, the BJP and the JD(S), have been demanding that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah immediately drop Sait from the Cabinet.
Siddaramaiah on Friday said that action would be taken against Sait after conducting an enquiry. Speaking to reporters at Sambra airport in Belagavi, Siddaramaiah said a wrong committed by anybody will not be ignored, but a due enquiry needs to be conducted.
Primarily it appears that the minister was scrolling messages received on WhatsApp and the picture appeared. An enquiry would reveal the facts, he added.
Protest against Tanveer Sait
Siddaramaiah may not hesitate to take action against Sait if it is established that he was watching pornography on his mobile phone. Sources close to Siddaramaiah said in Bengaluru that he would be seeking an explanation from the minister either on Saturday or Sunday. The two have not met after the incident. In case action has to be initiated, the chief minister might ask Sait to put in his papers. But if Sait convinces Siddaramaiah that he watched the sleaze accidentally, then he may be asked to express his regret.
The sources said that as the incident has caused embarrassment to the government, Siddaramaiah is under pressure to initiate action against Sait. The BJP and the JD (S) are set to raise the issue in the forthcoming legislature session in Belagavi. Besides, Siddaramaiah who is readying the party for by-election to the Assembly from Nanjangud, is hesitant to lose the services of Sait who hails from Mysuru district, the sources said.
Will sue media for slander: Tanveer Sait
Raichur, Nov 12: Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait has said that he would sue the media for slander in connection with the reports that he was watching porn during Tipu Jayanti programme on Thursday.
“I was watching visuals of Tipu Jayanti celebrations in Mysuru and not any porn. The media has blamed me for the wrong I have not committed. I have also made preparations to lodge a complaint with the cyber crime police,” Sait told reporters here on Friday.
To a question, Sait said that he had discussed the issue with KPCC president G Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and would personally meet the party leaders after reaching Bengaluru.
He said that no one, including the Congress high command, had sought his resignation. He claimed that the allegation against him was quite different from that against BJP ministers (who were caught watching porn in the Assembly). Meanwhile, Raichur district unit of Kannada Rakshana Vedike on Friday lodged a police complaint seeking action against Sait under Section 354(c) of IPC.