Siddaramaiah, Surjewala court arrest demanding minister's arrest

Bengaluru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala along with many top Congress leaders courted arrest on Thursday while marching to lay siege to the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's residence demanding the arrest of state Minister K S Eshwarappa and his dismissal from the cabinet.

The party has also decided to stage an indefinite sit-in demonstration near Vidhana Soudha till the demands are met.

Eshwarappa, who holds the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj portfolio, is facing charges of abetment of suicide of a civil contractor Santosh K Patil from Hindalga village in Belagavi district.

The contractor allegedly ended his life in a hotel suite in Udupi on Tuesday accusing Eshwarappa of demanding 40 per cent commission on a public works ahead of a village festival in 2021.

The minister not only dismissed the allegation, but also refused to step down saying he was in no way involved in the incident as there were no documentary evidences to prove that the work order was issued in the first place.

Hundreds of Congress workers led by Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC president D K Shivakumar, AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala took out a march in the city demanding the arrest of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister and booking a case against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Congress leaders and workers tried to break the police barricade. To stop them further, police took them into preventive custody.

Besides Siddaramaiah and Surjewala, those who courted arrest were Congress state chief Shivakumar, former ministers M B Patil and Priyank Kharge.

Addressing a press conference, Surjewala said Congress leaders and workers gathered on Thursday to pay homage to the architect of Indian constitution Dr B R Ambedkar on his 131st birth anniversary.

"However, today the constitution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar is under attack in Karnataka. The founding principles of the Constitution are being trampled upon and subjugated in Karnataka," Surjewala said, referring to the case regsitered against Eshwarappa.

He also sought to know which provision in the Constitution permitted Eshwarappa to continue after an abetment to suicide case is registered against him and what prevented the police from arresting him.

Accusing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of being a party and protector to corruption, the Congress national general secretary alleged the BJP government in Karnataka is a 40 per cent commission government.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy said the case around Santosh's suicide is shrouded in mystery.

It is the responsibility of the government to bring out the truth in the case. Prima facie, involvement of many unseen hands is evident, the JD(S) leader said.

"Who assigned the civil contractor Santosh Patil to carry out Rs four crore worth work without work order and without estimate? How works of such a proportion can happen without bringing to the notice of the government or any engineer concerned," Kumaraswamy sought to know.