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By Shilpa Nair: Just a day before the Karnataka assembly elections, the Congress party has levelled yet another corruption charge against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. A delegation from the Karnataka Congress has filed a complaint with the Lokayukta against state Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, and other officers of the health department.
The allegation pertains to the awarding of a tender to a private company for the 108-Arogya Kavacha Ambulance scheme of the Karnataka government. The Congress alleges that during the election time, the BJP government violated norms by calling for a tender and allotting it to a private company with no prior experience in the health sector.
The total value of the tender is Rs 1,260 crore. The Congress has accused deputy director of the health department Dr. R. Narayan of accepting a bribe on behalf of the minister at his house.
The party has also released a photograph of him keeping a wad of cash inside his bag.
This is not the first time that the Congress has accused the BJP government of corruption in the state. The assembly election has seen the BJP, Congress and JD(S) run a high-voltage campaign suffused with accusations, promises, acrimony and local colour.
The major face-off between the BJP and the Congress was over corruption, with the label of ’40 per cent commission sarkar’ dogging the incumbent Basavaraj Bommai government for over a year now. It has been the main theme of the Congress campaign. The BJP, meanwhile, focused on ‘double-engine sarkar’. As the campaigns intensified, so did the battle over ‘commissions’.
The election in Karnataka will be held in a single phase on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13.
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