Referring to a WHO report on COVID-19 deaths in the country, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise for his lie on the COVID-19 deaths.
Addressing presspersons in Belagavi on Saturday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that according to the report, India reported 47 lakh COVID-19 related deaths in 2020 and 2021.
“However the Prime Minister has said that there were only 4.8 lakh deaths, which means that they are suppressing the truth. The Prime Minister should apologise to the country for his lies and immediately take steps to provide a compensation of ₹4 lakh to the families of COVID-19 victims,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also demanded that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai reveal the real numbers of COVID-19 deaths and arrange to disburse compensation to the affected families. He also demanded that a death audit should be conducted on the COVID-19 deaths.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had reasons to believe former Union Minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal’s statement on him being asked to pay ₹2,500 crore to be made Chief Minister, as Mr. Yatnal himself was an aspirant for the post.
“Mr. Yatnal is a sitting MLA and former Union Minister and an aspirant for Chief Minister’s post. He has said people from Delhi had sought ₹2,500 crore for the post and ₹100 crore for becoming a Minister. Who had told him this? Who had sent them? How much has the present Chief Minister paid? How much did B.S. Yediyurappa pay and how much did the present Ministers pay?. There should be a thorough inquiry into the whole issue to reveal the truth,” he said.
To a query, Mr. Siddarmaiah clarified that he did not even buy a cup of tea to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Terming the State Government as a “government of scams”, he said that it was a 40% government. “Never have I seen such a corrupt government. Not just the Home Ministry, but in all departments there is rampant corruption. Mr. Modi had said that he would not eat and would not allow others to eat. State president of Contractors’ Association Kempanna had written to the PM mentioning about the 40% commission and now although 10 months had lapsed after his complaint, no action has been taken so far. In other words Prime Minister is supporting corruption,” he alleged.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that such a big scam would not have taken place without the support of the Government. Home Minister Araga Jnanendra was making irresponsible statements and already the name of Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan had come up. So Mr. Bommai should immediately sack both these Ministers.
He also demanded that a court-monitored inquiry into the whole issue should be done to reveal the kingpins.
