Munirathna lodges complaint against DKS alleging corruption
The Hindu
BJP MLA Munirathna accuses Bengaluru Minister Shivakumar of corruption in SWD contracts, sparking political controversy.
Controversial BJP MLA from R. R. Nagar, Munirathna, on Sunday lodged a complaint with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot against Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar alleging corruption in contracts worth ₹2000 crore to redo Storm Water Drains (SWDs) in Bengaluru.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is taking up redoing SWDs in the city, in a World Bank funded project.
It can be recalled that Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Munirathna have been at loggerheads ever since the latter switched to the BJP from Congress in 2019. This is not the first time Mr. Munirathna has made these allegations. He had written to the central agencies Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Karnataka Lokayukta, making the same allegations a month ago. He had also written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, appealing to remove Mr. Shivakumar as the Bengaluru Development Minister. Mr. Munirathna said he will also file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging these tenders in the High Court on Tuesday.
Speaking to media persons after lodging his complaint with the Raj Bhavan on Sunday, Mr. Munirathna alleged that instead of calling a global tender, which he claimed would have saved money for the city’s civic body, Mr. Shivakumar had allegedly not only forced officials to not only call local tenders and had violated many norms of Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 1999, but also rigged the tenders to ensure those he preferred get the tenders. He named Star Chandru, Congress’ MP candidate from Mandya in 2024, as one of the alleged beneficiaries.
When media persons sought a response from Mr. Shivakumar to the complaint by Mr. Munirathna, he shot back that the police were yet to carry out a mahazar in Vidhana Soudha, referring to a rape case against the BJP MLA in which the victim has alleged that Mr. Munirathna raped her in the minister’s chambers in Vidhana Soudha, when he was a minister in the erstwhile BJP government.
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