Amit Shah rakes up corruption charges against Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar

Bengaluru: BJP national president, Amit Shah on Wednesday went hammer and tongs against the state government, accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Ministers of pocketing the money released by the Modi government at the Centre for various developmental programmes in the state over the last four -and- a- half years.

Participating in a Jana Parivarthana Rally at Holalkere, he claimed the Congress government had plundered the state with its corruption and ignored its development. "Have you ever got a costly gift like a Rs 70 lakh worth watch? No. But Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah gets one because he helps businessmen," he charged, raking up the Hublot watch controversy.

He then ripped into the Congress over the Income Tax raid on Minister D.K. Shivakumar and the alleged corrupt deals of Social Welfare Minister, H. Anjaneya's wife. "Be it farmers or any other section of people, the Congress government has put them under stress without bringing them any development," he claimed, appealing to voters to return the BJP to power for the sake of the state's development.

Also, accusing the government of doing little to investigate the murders of 23 RSS and BJP activists in the state, he asserted that if his party came to power, it would make sure they were properly probed and those responsible arrested.

Going by sources in the BJP, Mr Shah chose Holalkere to take on the Congress as this reserved constituency is represented by social welfare minister Mr Anjaneya, who is said to be a close aide of the Chief Minister. Like other constituencies in Chitradurga district, this one too is not a BJP bastion, although the party does have an MP here. By addressing a rally in the constituency, Mr Shah seems to have taken a calculated risk to raise the pitch against the Congress on its own turf.