Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, on Friday criticized Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for recommending the candidature of Justice S.R. Nayak for appointment as Lokayukta though Governor Vajubhai Vala had rejected his name recently.
He told the media here that the Chief Minister intentionally recommended Justice Nayak’s candidature for the second time as he was not keen to fill the vacant top post. The Lokayukta’s post has been vacant for several months after the resignation of Justice Bhaskar Rao. Justice Nayak is a former chairman of the state Human Rights Commission.
Mr Shettar alleged that a communication gap existed between the state government and Mr Vala. When asked about the Governor’s decision to return important bills in recent days, he attributed it to the communication gap. More over, the state government was not ready to share information with the Governor regarding major decisions, he added.
Mr Shettar demanded the resignation of social welfare minister H. Anjaneya and minor irrigation minister Shivaraj Tangadgi for their involvement in different controversies.
Mr. Shettar said Mr. Anjaneya compared private education institutions to brothels, and wondered how a minister could such statements. Many private educational institutions in north Karnataka and south Karnataka were imparting education free of cost to students. Education institutions run by maths were providing good education and therefore Mr. Anjaneya should resign or Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should remove him from the cabinet.
In addition, Mr Shivaraj Tangadagi should resign in view of large scale of misappropriation of funds in minor irrigation department.
Contractors involved in fake bill scams were diehard supporters of the minister, and therefore his involvement was crystal clear, Mr Shettar added.
