Oppn disrupts Assembly over demand for minister’s removal

Bengaluru The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) disrupted proceedings in both Houses of the Karnataka legislature on Monday demanding the dismissal of minister B Nagendra, over his alleged involvement in the multi crore rupee embezzlement matter in the Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) and the killing of three suspected poachers in a forest in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district recently

Bengaluru The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) disrupted proceedings in both Houses of the Karnataka legislature on Monday demanding the dismissal of minister B Nagendra, over his alleged involvement in the multi crore rupee embezzlement matter in the Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) and the killing of three suspected poachers in a forest in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district recently.

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When legislative Assembly speaker GS Patil announced that the question hour will be taken up, opposition leader in the Assembly R Ashoka and his colleague V Sunil Kumar, raising Nagendra’s issue, said they will not allow the proceedings to continue until the minister is sacked. ``How can we participate when a corrupt minister is sitting here? ‘’ Ashoka asked. Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byregowda said the opposition should give prior notice to raise the matter and was wasting the time of the House. ``They have raised the issue to hush up internal differences in their party,’’ he maintained.

Nagendra was inducted into chief minister DK Shivakumar’s cabinet on August 3 and holds the portfolio of planning and statistics. He had resigned from the Siddaramaiah cabinet in June 2024 following allegations of misappropriation of funds amounting to ₹94.73 crore. The scandal came to light after P Chandrashekaran, working as an accounts superintendent in KMVSTDC died by suicide on May 26 in Shivamogga district, leaving behind a six-page death note in Kannada purportedly written by him.It named senior officials of the corporation as well as bank officials responsible for embezzlement of funds from the corporation.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Nagendra in the scam case in July 2024, and a Special Court in Bengaluru in October that year, granted bail to the MLA from Ballari. Nagendra has been named in the chargesheet by the ED and CBI in connection with the case.

Sunil Kumar said the opposition will not press for Nagendra’s resignation, if he admits that the money allegedly siphoned off was used to fund his Assembly elections from Ballari in 2023 and also given to the Congress high command. Intervening, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara asked the opposition to furnish proof that money was spent during the Assembly polls.

After two adjournments, when the opposition refused to relent and staged a dharna in the House, the speaker decided to go ahead with the business amid their sloganeering. The question hour and issues to be raised were taken up with the opposition shouting slogans in the well of the House. Later, the House was adjourned for the day.

Killing of suspected forest poachers: Even as the ruling Congress government ordered a magisterial inquiry into the killing of three suspected poachers in a forest in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district by forest department officials in the early hours of 15, August, the BJP and JD(S) demanded a judicial probe. They sought the resignation of forest minister Ramalinga Reddy holding him morally responsible for the killings. Leaders of opposition in both Houses of the legislature R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy demanded ₹one crore each to the families of the three deceased whom they claimed were `` murdered’’ by the forest department personnel.

Ashoka said a fourth person, who was injured and admitted to the K R hospital in Mysuru had disappeared. The government was silent on the injured person’s statement. ``If the three persons who were killed were forest poachers like Veerappan, why were the local farmers protesting in their support?’’ he asked. He referred to Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay condemning the incident and questioning the killings as the deceased were of Tamil origin. ``Even when an allied party of the Congress has made a statement, the Karnataka government has not given a clarification,’’ he maintained.

In his reply in both the Houses, Reddy identified the deceased as Anthony Swamy (50 years), John Rose Peter (42 years) and Kumar alias Sawariyappan (32 years), residents of villages on the fringes of Cauvery Wildlife Reserve. The fourth suspected poacher Mahimadan (45 years) was injured. He dismissed C B Suresh Babu, JD(S) MLA’s claim that one of the deceased’s family members had said he had gone looking for their missing cows in the forest. ``If they were looking for missing cows, why were the suspected poachers carrying utensils and cooking ingredients?’’ he asked.

Reading out the forest department’s report, Reddy said two teams spotted four people carrying an unlicensed country gun and four bags of deer meat weighing 34.25 kg after hunting in the forest. As it was still dark at 5 am, the forest department staff opened fire in self defence from a slide action gun, which caused multiple injuries to the suspected poachers resulting in their death. Reddy said the magisterial inquiry report would establish the facts and action would be taken if the forest department personnel were in the wrong. `` If the magisterial inquiry is not to the satisfaction, I will discuss with the chief minister for a judicial probe,’’ he added

The opposition parties in the Council refused to accept the minister’s reply demanding a judicial inquiry leading to the House adjournment.