BENGALURU, 20 JULY

BJP unit in the State on Saturday challenged Congress government to order a probe into the '21 scams' that allegedly took place during the last five years, when the saffron party was in power.

BJP said Congress was ‘solely responsible” for the entire scam and asserted that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in “no way involved” even though the nationalised Union Bank of India, comes under the Union Finance Ministry.

The party accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of 'shielding' those involved in the Rs 187 crore scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.

"The Chief Minister has said 21 scams have taken place during BJP rule. You have been in power for the past 15 months. Why did you take so much time to investigate these scams? We are ready for a probe," Leader of the Opposition Party (LoP) R Ashoka said.

He said, "The way Rs 88 crore of Valmiki Corporation was 'Khata-Khat' transferred to different bank accounts in Telangana, you should have 'Khata-Khat' investigated the allegations of irregularities against us."

Ashoka, a former deputy chief minister, accused Siddaramaiah of trying to put the blame on Valmiki Corporation and Union Bank of India officials to save B Nagendra from the scam.

The alleged 'scam' came to light after the Accounts Superintendent of the Corporation Chandrasekharan P took his own life on 26 May.

In the suicide note, Chandrasekharan alleged that there was an illegal transfer of Rs 187 crore belonging to the Corporation to various accounts.

The Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team, which has so far arrested 11 people.