Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa is corrupt, says senior leader H Vishwanath

Bengaluru: Thumbing his nose at party high command’s dictate not to air grievances against Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in public, senior BJP leader and Member of Legislative Council H Vishwanath openly accused the CM of corruption on Thursday.

Addressing mediapersons, Vishwanath also alleged that Yediyurappa’s son was interfering in the works in all departments leading to a lot of heartburns among ministers. “Not a single minister in the Cabinet is happy,” he said.

“We respect the leadership of Yediyurappa and his contribution to the BJP in Karnataka. But now Yediyurappa does not have that spirit or strength to run the government because of his age and health factors. Because of the interference of his family members, no minister is happy. In all the departments, his son’s intervention is more. Everybody knows it,” he added.

Giving examples, he said: “Recently, they have called for a tender from the Irrigation Department without the clearance or calling for a board meeting. The tender was for Rs 20,000 crore. Is it not corruption?”

He also accused ‘central leaders’ of taking a share of the money collected through corruption. “What about Jindal? 3,660 acres were sold at a throwaway price of Rs 1,12,000. He (Yediyurappa) is saying I have to give money to the central leaders. Are you taking money from here? These questions are being raised with Mr (Arun) Singh,” he said.

The stinging comments come at a time when the state in-charge Arun Singh is in Bengaluru to meet with the state leaders.

Vishwanath was one of the leaders who defected to the BJP in 2019, leading to the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. He was then the state president of the JD(S) and the sitting MLA from Hunsur constituency. After his disqualification as an MLA, he contested the by-elections in 2019 but lost. He was then nominated to the Legislative Council by the BJP but was not made a minister by Yediyurappa.