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Yediyurappa to visit Delhi today amid looming political crisis
Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa will depart for Delhi on Friday for a two-day visit which includes a possible meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi among other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa will depart for Delhi on Friday for a two-day visit which includes a possible meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi among other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The CM will be leaving for Delhi soon after the scheduled virtual meeting with the Prime Minister on Friday,” said one person from the chief minister’s media team, requesting not to be named.
The person cited above said that the chief minister is also hoping to meet BJP national president JP Nadda and union home minister Amit Shah among other leaders.
Yediyurappa’s visit to Delhi comes at a time when the dissent within his own government and party has risen in recent times, calling for a replacement of the 78-year-old.
Though a section of the central leadership have openly stated that Yediyurappa will continue in his chair for the next two years, a significant other section has demanded that he be replaced at the earliest.
His detractors have alleged widespread corruption, mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic, doling out favours for personal benefit, non-performance and have accused the chief minister’s son, BY Vijayendra, of running a parallel administration under the aegis of his father.
Yediyurappa has had several close shaves in recent weeks and months as the courts have refused to close charges of corruption against the chief minister from his earlier stints in 2006 and 2008.
On Wednesday, TJ Abraham, an activist and president of the Anti-Graft & Environmental Forum lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau against Yediyurappa, his son (Vijayendra), son-in-law (Sanjay Sree), grandson (Shashidar Maradi) and M Sudheendra Rao, the former chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
The complainant alleges that Yediyurappa and his family members sought a bribe of ₹16 crores from Rao to be appointed as chairman of the KSPCB in December 2019.
In an interview to a local Kannada channel on July 7, Rao is reported to have made the confession of the bribe amount being demanded of him and payment of ₹9.75 crores by selling his fixed assets like his apartments and other belongings.
The complaint also lists the illegal clearance of around 60 files and illegal collection of ₹60 crore by the relatives of the accused.
