BJP wants Shivakumar resignation as DCM after HC rejects his petition

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Thursday demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar after the Karnataka High Court rejected his petition seeking quashing of the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a disproportionate assets case against him.

The party said his resignation was necessary for a free and fair probe. “The high court cancelled the stay on the case he had filed in the high court seeking to quash the FIR. D K Shivakumar should resign his position for a free and fair probe,” former minister C N Ashwath Narayan told reporters here.

He recalled that Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, had launched a 'PayCM campaign' against the BJP when it was in power in the state, accusing that government in general and then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai in particular of bribery charges.

"Now Shivakumar should live up to his word," Narayan said, adding that there should not be different sets of rules for the DCM and others.

Former minister C T Ravi too said the guilty must be punished. “Those who did illegalities must face the consequences,'' Ravi said.