“Ashwathnarayan is the father of looters”: Dy CM DK Shivakumar

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 16 (ANI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday lashed out at former BJP minister Ashwathnarayan by calling him the ‘father of looters’.

He made strong remarks when Ashwathnarayan demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah must be present when the discussion on the Valmiki Development Corporation issue was raised in the Legislative Assembly. The DCM called Ashwathnarayan the ‘father of looters’ for saying, “The Chief minister who is involved in a daylight robbery in the Valmiki Development Corporation is absent from the House.”

“Were the BJP Chief ministers always present when Siddaramaiah raised certain issues in the House as a Leader of the Opposition? The people of the State are making you sit in the Opposition benches because of what you have done during your term,” the DCM admonished Ashwathnarayan.

When Ashwathnarayan demanded that the proof be presented before the House for accusing him of looting, the DCM said, “I will pull out proof of all your misdeeds. I will expose you, stop me if you can. You had said that you would clean up Ramanagar, but you could not win even a single seat.”

“The Chief Minister was sitting here till now, how can he accuse the CM of being absent?” he asked the BJP MLAs. The House was adjourned after the BJP MLAs created a ruckus on the DCM’s statements.

The DCM appealed to the Speaker to remove from records BJP MLA Sureshkumar’s statement that SIT was ‘Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar Investigation team’. When BJP members objected to DCM’s appeal, he said he was requesting the Speaker and not them.