Centre wants to put CM Siddaramaiah behind bars: Health minister

Mangaluru, NT Bureau: Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Friday alleged that the Centre wants to put Chief Minister Siddaramaiah behind bars and is therefore "digging out small things" against the opposition but protecting its own people who indulge in "big crimes".

“They (BJP leaders) are misusing the governor, Income Tax (dept), Directorate of Enforcement only to topple the government. You know what they tried to do in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala,” Rao told reporters in Dakshina Kannada district.

He was reacting to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's show cause notice issued to Siddaramaiah on the MUDA site allotment 'scam' in which the CM's wife Parvathi is allegedly a beneficiary.

Rao said that on a visit to any state ruled by a non-BJP gover nment, one can see how the Centre misuses government machinery across India to topple and destabilise state governments and create confusion within the government there, by making false accusations, putting pressure on opposition leaders and getting them into trouble.

"There is an undeclared emergency in the country," Rao said, pointing out that the BJP-led Centre had jailed Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and former union minister P Chidambaram.

“These Central agencies do not touch the BJP leaders. Instead they (BJP leaders) are protected. If others make a small mistake, the BJP goes after them. In Siddaramaiah's case, they want him to be jailed,” he charged.

He highlighted that the governor served the show cause notice to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah within hours of getting a complaint from advocateactivist T J Abraham. Rao said the governor should have verified whether the chief minister is involved in the MUDA allotments or not before issuing the notice.