New Delhi: Dinesh Gundu Rao, (I/C Tamilnadu, Puducherry & Goa) and Prof. Gourav Vallabh, Spokesperson AICC have addressed the media at AICC Headquarters on Monday July 12.
Addressing the media Dinesh Gundu Rao said,” I have come here to explain to you the monumental corruption that is taking place in Karnataka, whether by the Hon’ble CM of Karnataka, by the members of the Chief Minister’s family and the brazen acts of taking bribes, taking money, without any fear or without any shame. What we are showing to you today is few video clippings of a conversation between a very responsible person and a journalist.
“The Karnataka Pollution Control Board is a statutory organization, which has got independent powers. The Chairman of the Pollution Control Board is a person, who has statutory powers and here we will be showing to you, how the then Chairman, former Chairman now, who was appointed by the Yediyurappa Government in the month of December and who was made to resign in three months in the month of March. He is giving a statement to the journalist of what all has occurred during this process of him becoming a Chairman and him resigning. The Yediyurappa Government and the CM himself, there have been so many exposes on him, right from the time and the coalition government was being toppled,” he said.
“There were audio recording which Yediyurappa admitted that it was his own voice, where he is trying to bribe the opposite party MLAs offering huge sums of money, also speaking about how he can manage Supreme Court Judges, how he can manage Speaker and this is on record on the audio tapes and the CM had admitted that it was his own voice. There was pervious another expose where money were transferred directly to his accounts, his family members’ accounts through 56 companies from Bengal, money laundering was done that is also caught on WhatsApp messages and audio messages, so this is a track record of Yediyurappa and his family. They are using this position to loot, to plunder the state and this money is being re-channelized to fund their political ambitions, to fund the BJP and also probably to fund the national leadership of the BJP, otherwise why will the national leadership of BJP keep quiet despite these blatant acts of corruption,” he added.
“BJP Government in Karnataka headed by CM B.S. Yediyurappa is allegedly involved in the most brazen acts of corruption and misuse of power. The undue interference in day-to-day administration by his maverick younger son B.Y. Vijayendra and other close relatives is alleged in many cases. Despite facing embarrassing situations arising from serious allegations made by the aggrieved sections who have dragged the CM and his family members to court seeking justice, there is no sign of either remorse or repentance on the part of CM B.S. Yediyurappa and his kith and kin,” he said.
“Now the latest allegation in this series is by a qualified senior Engineer –who has suffered at the hands of relatives of CM B.S. Yediyurappa, trying to fulfill their insatiable demand for huge sums of money just to secure and remain in a prestigious public office. In the bargain, he has been left high and dry after having sold away all his fixed assets and properties to mobilize the required amounts totalling up to Rs.9.75 Crore to satisfy the greed of CM’s close relatives,” he added.
“A local TV Channel vividly brings out the plight of Dr. M. Sudheendra Rao, Ex-Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), through a video interview, in which Dr. Rao himself gives a first-person narrative of his agonizing experience at the hands of CM’s close aides-cum-relatives who have squeezed him out of all his lifetime earnings and assets.”
As per Dr. M. Sudheendra Rao’s confession –
• He is appointed as Chairman KSPCB on 30th December 2019, by Karnataka BJP Government headed by B.S. Yediyurappa. This post was granted to him on a promise that he would make a payment of Rs.16 Crore – a deal conveyed through and monitored by one Shri Mariswamy, President, Zilla Panchayat, Bangalore Urban District and a close relative of CM. After assuming office vide the appointment order dated 30.12.2019, he is put under tremendous pressure by the said Mariswamy to arrange for immediate payment of the promised amount of Rs. 16 Crore
• During the period between 11th January 2020 and 22nd February 2020, he manages to mobilize varying sums of money totalling up to Rs. 6.22 crore by selling off residential flats owned by his family members as well as gold and silver jewelries belonging to his wife and daughters. Having failed to meet the immediate target of Rs.10 crore fixed by Mariswamy, he further raises a loan of Rs. 2.00 Crore from HDFC Bank by pledging share documents of one of his daughters
• A total of Rs. 9.75 Crore cash is handed over by him to CM’s relative Mariswamy in varying sums on different dates within a span of one and half month in January-February 2020. Mariswamy acknowledges the receipt of the cash payments by scribbling down the particulars of payments in a white paper slip in his own handwriting
• While these payments are made in installments, Mariswamy introduces him to the trio of B.S. Yediyurappa clan-younger son of CM B.Y. Vijayendra, grandson Shashidhar Maradi and a close cousin Sanjay Shree, who in turn start placing fresh demands by insisting upon clearance of about 60 government files pertaining to requests for Consent Certificate (NOC) from KSPCB for several private limited companies running manufacturing-cum-processing industries within and away from Bangalore.
As narrated by Dr. Sudheendra Rao, in his own words, expressed in vernacular Kannada, each of these files from private companies had a “price-tag” on it, as determined and demanded by CM’s family members as well as middleman Mariswamy. Dr. Rao goes on record to say that by obtaining his signatures on these files, the CM’s family members have collected not less than Rs.60 crores as bribes from the concerned parties. The CM’s relatives are referred to in these conversations by their nicknames as “Viji”, “Shashi”, “Sanjay”
As told by Dr. Rao, in 2 such instances, the CM himself takes special interest for clearing of files belonging to two companies so much so that he personally calls up Chairman Dr. Sudheendra Rao over phone while he is on an official trip to foreign countries. He calls him up from Davos as well as from Mauritius Islands, pleading him to clear the files by the time he returns to Bangalore. Indeed, as soon as he lands at Bangalore International Airport, CM promptly calls up Sudheendra Rao to confirm whether he has cleared those “important” files. When Rao replies that he has done his job as per Hon’ble CM’s directions, B.S. Yediyurappa expresses his happiness and invites him to come over to his residence the next morning for breakfast along with the “processed” files.
Finally, as admitted by Dr. Sudheendra Rao in a TV interview, that it becomes difficult to give clearance to certain private companies condoning their gross violations of pollution control norms, he pleads his helplessness before the CM’s relatives. They, in turn, begin to threaten him with dire consequences including immediate removal from the post itself although he has completed only 3 months of his stipulated 3-year tenure of the statutory body.
As per Dr. Rao, when things come to a flashpoint, the CM’s family begins the operation for removal of Dr. Sudheendra Rao by putting psychological pressure and even issuing oral threats. When he refuses to oblige, they manage to obtain his signature on a green sheet of paper ostensibly for submitting an affidavit before Court in an official matter. Later when he is on a pilgrimage trip to Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh along with his family, some “miscreants” type out the resignation letter on the signed green sheet of paper obtained from Dr. Sudheendra Rao and submit it to B.S. Yediyurappa’s office, who in turn accepts the “resignation” with immediate effect. Thus, an official notification is issued by Karnataka Government that the “resignation” of Dr. Sudheendra Rao has been accepted and he has been relieved from the post of Chairman KSPCB w.e.f.2nd May 2020.
Dr. Sudheendra Rao has thus been removed from the post he had so managed to hold on to painstakingly and has also been deprived of all his personal wealth, property and savings from lifetime earnings by the wily ways of CM B.S. Yediyurappa’s family members.
Dr. Sudheendra Rao repeatedly mentions the name of a Government official-Gururaj Joshi and accuses him of being the master manipulator who has acted at the behest of CM’s relative Mariswamy, Son B.Y. Vijayendra, grandson Shashidhar Maradi and grand nephew Sanjay Shree.
After having lost everything – position, prestige, honour and wealth – when Rao’s wife, daughters and son, approached Mariswamy for return of the huge amount of Rs. 9.75 crore, he allegedly abused them and drove them away. Even Dr. Sudheendra Rao himself met CM’s influential son B.Y.Vijayendra for relief, he offered him alternative government posts – Chairperson of either BWSSB or MSIL. Here again, an additional demand of Rs.5 crore is made for giving the new post too. Dr. Sudheendra Rao pleads his inability to fulfill their new demand and then determines to place his entire plight in public domain through electronic and print media.
When India was fighting COVID-19, the Karnataka CM was allegedly more interested in such acts of extortion through his relatives. If these allegations are true, the people of Karnataka have been cheated on two counts: abetting black money circulation by a person holding the chair of CM and weakening the fight against COVID-19 by focusing on matters of brazen corruption when the focus should have been to save lives and provide relief to the people of Karnataka.
The Congress Party has three demands in this entire matter:
- B.S. Yediyurappa has no moral right to remain the Chief Minister after allegations of such serious nature and of direct involvement. Karnataka Chief Minister Mr. B.S. Yediyurappa should resign immediately from the post of CM.
2. An independent judicial probe under the supervision of Honorable Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to uncover the entire matter and send the culprits behind bars.
We urge central agencies like CBI, ED and IT authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation and uncover the truth.
They should not be just lap dogs of the BJP, they should act independently and these are serious allegations, serious revelations made by a very responsible individual and this has been happening at a very-very regular interval and these things are in the notice of the BJP leadership, national leadership, but, they are not acting, they are not doing anything, the biggest question is ‘Why’? And for that probably we will give you the answer later but, now you can watch the videos.
After playing the video he said, this is a straight and direct case of corruption and in this straight and direct case of corruption, who is involved- Mariswamy, who himself is a relative of CM B.S. Yediyurappa. who is involved- the son of CM- Vijayendra. Who is involved- the grandson of CM- Shashidhar Maradi. Who is involved- the grandnephew of CM, B.S. Yediyurappa- Sanjay Shree and who is involved- the CM, himself. This is a, as per the statements, as per the videos, which we had shown you, as per the statements which we are seeing from the perspective of Dr. Sudheendra Rao, who was the Chairman of Karnataka, Pollution Control Board from 30th December, 2019 to 2nd May, 2020, for only 4 months and he had filled a writ petition also, for your information, that his signature which was taken on his resignation was ostensibly for submitting an affidavit before the court. So this is a straight case where CM himself, the son of CM, the grandson of CM, the grandnephew of CM, the relative of CM is directly involved, as per the statement of Dr. Rao, who was the Chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board from 30th December, 2019 to 2nd May, 2020.
