CM Bommai, Siddaramaiah trade charges over PSI recruitment scam

Bengaluru: A war of words broke out between Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah over the police sub-inspector recruitment scam following the arrest of an ADGP-rank officer on Tuesday.

Mounting its attack on the government saying that it was trying to cover up the entire scam, Siddaramaiah demanded the resignation of Bommai.

The Chief Minister hit back at Siddaramaiah for demanding his resignation and sought to know whether he had resigned as chief minister when a recruitment scam had come to light during his tenure.

“The ADGP Amrit Paul has been arrested and subsequently suspended in the PSI recruitment scam. When we had raised this issue, this government charged us saying that there were no irregularities or corruption in the recruitment. They said this in March this year, Siddaramaiah, the former state chief minister, said in a press conference.

“Now in the same case, Amrit Paul who was in charge of recruitment, has been arrested and suspended. Now what they have to say on this? the Congress stalwart sought to know.

He alleged that the BJP government wanted to cover up the entire case.

“According to me, the Chief Minister, who is shielding everyone, should resign because he is the executive head. Further, there should be a judicial inquiry into the case,” the former chief minister demanded.

Siddaramaiah also suspected that the raids carried out by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan was an attempt to divert public attention from the scam.

He also claimed that he has heard about the involvement of a former chief minister’s son in the PSI recruitment scam.

Referring to Karnataka High Court judge Justice H P Sandesh’s observation in the open court on Monday that he received a “transfer threat” for his remarks against the functioning of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Siddaramaiah expressed his dismay that even attempts were made to threaten a judge.

“They threatened the judge though he was not scared. When the judge is not safe, who is safe here? If the judge had not made his observation public, there would not have been an FIR against IAS officer J Manjunath, he said.

The ACB arrested Manjunath allegedly in a corruption case on Monday after the strong observations made by the court.

Counter-attacking Siddaramaiah, Bommai asked if he had resigned when many irregularities in recruitment came to light during his tenure as chief minister.

“When Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister, the question paper of the police sub-inspector recruitment exam leaked from Kalaburagi. Did he resign then? Going by this parameter, Siddaramaiah should have resigned many times, the Chief Minister said.

He even said the DIG from whose house the question paper leaked was neither arrested, nor suspended during Siddaramaiah’s tenure.