Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is expected to hold protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led state government at 300 places across Bengaluru on Monday, January 23. While addressing a press conference at the KPCC office on January 22, Congress MLA NA Haris said that senior party leaders like former Chief Minister Siddaramiah, Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and other Congress leaders would stage a protest at Trinity Circle on Monday. The protest is said to be held against corruption charges levelled against the current government.
Speaking to the media, NA Haris said that the state government is not ready to fight corruption charges so the Congress party has decided to launch a protest to register their dissatisfaction. According to NDTV, the protest is expected to be held simultaneously at 200 signals, 26, flyovers, and 25 metro stations in the city. Congress had made multiple allegations that the BJP receives a 40% commission from contractors involved in government projects.
On January 16, the Karnataka Contractors Association released an audio recording of BJP MLA GH Thippareddy allegedly demanding a bribe from R Manjunath, the Association's vice-president. Manjunath also alleged that he paid 25% of the bribe demanded by the BJP MLA to carry out various construction works. The Association leaders also said that they have more recordings of several ministers demanding bribes which they plan on releasing if the government fails to meet their demands. The demands included a judicial inquiry into the 40% commission charged in state government contracts and the payment of bills totalling Rs 25,000 crore.
Denying the allegations made against him, MLA Thippareddy questioned why Manjunath paid the bribes in the first place. He further added that the allegations are being made against him because of some personal enmity between them. The MLA asked, “When they [contractors] are constructing underground drainage, they dig up cement roads. Can we not question them when they do that? They release affluents from septic tanks in front of the houses. If we question them about this, we face allegations of bribes. He [Manjunath] threatens officials saying he is the district president. If we question them, then we face such allegations.”