Bengaluru Court issues summons to Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, Rahul Gandhi over '40% commission' campaign

A special court in Bengaluru on Tuesday issued summons to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, deputy CM DK Shivakumar and AICC leader Rahul Gandhi over allegations of running a smear campaign with false advertisements against the BJP in the run up to the recent assembly polls.

BJP’s state secretary S Keshavprasad filed the complaint on May 9 against the leaders for publishing an advertisement that claimed the then-incumbent BJP extracted 40% commission in government contracts and `had looted' Rs 1.5 lakh crore from the state. The advertisement, the complaint alleged, tarnished the reputation of the BJP.

The special court, which deals exclusively with criminal cases involving former and sitting lawmakers, has posted the case for July 27 for recording of statements.


The BJP welcomed the court decision, tweeting that it is easy to mislead people by speaking untruthfully and advertising falsely. “The court will award appropriate punishment,” the party said.

The Congress had repeatedly cornered the BJP during the election campaign over the 40% commission charge. The party had been levelling this allegation ever since the State Contractors’ Association wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making the allegation last year in April. A contractor had committed suicide, saying he was unable to meet his expenses due to the high bribes needed.

Former CM Basavaraj Bommai had slammed the new regime two days after Siddaramaiah assumed office, asking the government to provide proof of the party’s accusations, while urging the contractors to quote 40% less in government contracts now that they have a new regime. He had demanded that the government inquire into all the scams of the previous regime and release all documents about corruption charges.