In the next six months, half of the BJP leaders in Karnataka will be in jail or out on bail: Priyank Kharge

Bengaluru: Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday said that half of the BJP leaders in the state will either be in jail or out on bail in the next six months as the Congress government will probe the corruption cases of the previous BJP government.

Reacting to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scandal, he said the Congress had not launched a witch hunt as its top priority was good governance.

“Our top priority as a government is to ensure efficient governance and not to engage in witch-hunting. However, there were many disagreements in the previous government,” Kharge told reporters here.

There are more than 35 cases against BJP leaders and an interim report has already been submitted in three to four cases, the minister said, adding that the state government has set up a special investigation team of the criminal investigation department.

“We are looking closely at these cases. We will get to the bottom of them. This takes time. There was extreme corruption in the previous government. We are working on it. And I assure you again that in the next six months, half of the BJP leaders will be out on bail or in jail,” he added.

The minister said there were countless cases where the role of the governor had been discussed and that these were set in stone and would be raised in court.

Responding to a question on the matter, Kharge said that it was impossible for the BJP leadership to pursue the case against Siddaramaiah to its logical conclusion as they did not have any evidence.

“The only thing they can do is keep the case alive by involving the CIA, the Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Department and the governor himself,” he added.

Kharge blamed Gehlot for the political unrest in the state, claiming that the governor was a puppet and not a constitutional head of Karnataka.

“Unfortunately, the position (of the governor) is compromised and he is behaving like a karyakarta of the BJP,” Kharge alleged.

Replying to a question, he said that the BJP never came to power through the people's mandate but stole it. This is the only way the BJP can come to power in Karnataka or anywhere else.