Bengaluru, 28 Jan

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arvind Bellad on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Excise Minister Ramappa Timmapur after senior officers from his department were caught allegedly accepting a bribe for issuing a bar license.

Bellad said that even in the smallest incidents, the Congress party have been demanding resignation from various people, asserting that in Timmapur's case, there are "solid proofs" against him due to which he should resign.

"He has to resign for the scandal that has erupted in his department. Even in the smallest of incidents, Congress has demanded the resignation of various people... There are many solid proofs here, and Mr Timmapur has toresign," Bellad told ANI.

Earlier on Tuesday, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president BY Vijayendra demanded that a proper investigation be conducted into the excise scam involving more than Rs 6,000 crore, while also pressing that state excise minister Ramappa Timmapur resign.

The investigation must be carried out either by a sitting High Court judge or by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he asserted.

Speaking to the media here, Vijayendra said that the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) are jointly staging a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha against the "corrupt" Congress government.

"Rs 6,000 crore scam wherein the excise minister and his family members are involved, and proof has already emerged, but CM Siddaramaiah is not willing to discuss this on the floor of the house. Investigation by the CBI or a sitting high court judge is the only answer to the entire scam. The Siddaramaiah government is trying to cover up the entire scam, creating drama. Outside the house and inside the house, we are going to demand the resignation of the excise minister," Vijayendra told reporters here.