Kalaburagi : Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday made a scathing attack on Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa over the Upalokayukta removal issue, accusing him of getting the records doctored and behaving like an ‘investigative officer”.
Speaking to mediapersons here, Mr Shettar sarcastically asked Mr Thimmappa whether he was a Speaker or an investigative officer?
Accusing the Congress of hatching a political conspiracy to besmirch the fair name of Mr Adi and remove him from the post, Mr Shettar advised Mr Thimmappa not to be part of the political conspiracy hatched by Congress leaders. “We had respect for Mr Thimmappa, but his latest conduct in the case has not brought dignity to the office he holds. It’s the responsibility of those who level allegations to submit documents corroborating their charges. Who is he (the Speaker) to say that he had collected all documents pertaining to the issue and will send it to the Chief Justice for inquiry? Does he have powers to investigate?”
Further Mr Shettar stated that as per the proceedings of the House, the motion for removal of Mr Adi was admitted in the House. “It’s there in the Assembly proceedings. But at the instance of the Speaker the proceedings have been changed, which goes against the rules. Only grammatical mistakes in the proceedings can be corrected, the actual proceedings should not be altered”, Mr Shettar observed.
The BJP leader also dared the Speaker to furnish a copy of allegations levelled against Mr Adi along with the memorandum submitted by Congress leader V.S. Ugrappa in the case.
“Mr Suresh Kumar (former BJP Minister) has made a written plea to the Speaker in this regard. But the Speaker has not complied with the plea. Why is he dithering when everything is fair? My request to the Speaker is that he should not make the Upalokayukta a sacrificial lamb in the murky political game”.
‘CM in poll overdrive’
Terming Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as a big liar (Maha Sullugara), Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar remarked that his ‘political gimmick’ of laying foundation stones in view of the coming taluk and zilla panchayat elections will not fetch him dividends. Speaking to the media, Mr Shettar claimed that Mr Siddaramaiah not only lies about his achievements, but also reels off lies about the Centre’s support to the State. When Mr Siddaramaiah undertook the padayatra to Kudalasangama, he had promised to provide Rs 10,000 crore every year only for the Krishna basin projects. “Now he has made a U-turn and brags about earmarking Rs 10,000 crore in the budget for irrigation every year which is for the entire state and not for the Krishna basin projects”, he added.
Referring to the announcement of formation of 43 new taluks during his tenure as Chief Minister, Mr Shettar alleged that Mr Siddaramaiah was lying that the new taluks would be declared soon as the Finance Department has already rejected the proposal in view of the expenditure involved. Further Mr Shettar said: “He is on a spree to lay the stones for projects for which neither the approval has been given nor tenders invited. Why did he not exhibit this kind of concern in the past? He cannot woodwink the public with such gimmicks.”
