Sack BS Yediyurappa over Rs 16 crore bribe charge by ex-pollution control board chief: AICC

The AICC on Sunday demanded the sacking of Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa following public allegations by a former chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPC) that he secured the job after assuring to pay Rs 16 crore to the CM’s family members and aide and that they subsequently forced him to issue no-objection certificates for environment clearance for many undeserving firms. The AICC sought a Chief Justice of Karnataka-monitored probe by the ED, CBI and other agencies into the allegations.

While releasing video clippings of a media interview given by M Sudheendra Rao, former chairman of the KSPCB, senior Karnataka Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao said at an AICC briefing: “As per M Sudheendra Rao’s confession, he was appointed as chairman, KSPCB, on December 30, 2019, by the Karnataka BJP government headed by BS Yediyurappa on a promise that he would make a payment of Rs 16 crore –– a deal conveyed through and monitored by one Mariswamy, president, zilla panchayat, Bangalore Urban District, and a close relative of the CM”.