Araga must take moral responsibility of PSI job scam, quit: Opposition leader

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah has demanded that Home Minister Araga Jnanendra step down for having accepted gross irregularities in the police sub-inspector recruitment scam and ordering reexamination.

“How can he (Araga) continue in the post? He must take moral responsibility for the murky affairs and step down immediately,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here on Saturday.

The Congress leader said Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai must sack the home minister from the Council of Ministers for protecting the guilty officers and not ordering an impartial inquiry into the scandal. Araga thinks his duty is to protect the corrupt, murderer and rapist. The police department is not in safe hands of the “inefficient chowkidar”.

“The CM must clarify on what basis the decision was taken to hold reexamination. If re-exam is held, the inefficient, corrupt and useless police officers get selected, just like Home Minister Araga Jnanendra. If the CID has been able to prove the occurrence of irregularities, then the government must make the inquiry report public,” he added.

Siddaramaiah sought to know whether the re-examination was done to ensure justice for the honest and meritorious candidates or to cover up the involvement of big fish in the scandal. What made the government order re-examination that too immediately after the arrest of Divya Hagaragi, prime accused in the PSI scam? What explosive statement has she given to the CID sleuths?

“Everybody spoke lightly when the Congress party exposed the gross irregularities in the PSI recruitment scam. Where are those leaders hiding now? As the entire government is drenched in corruption, an impartial probe by the CID into the scam is an unlikely event. The only panacea for this is to hold a probe under the supervision of a judge of the High Court of Karnataka,” he added.