Cops seize Rs 8 crore from BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, son; over Rs 3 crore found under bed in Karnataka

CHIKKAMAGALURU/ MYSURU: Rather than being embarrassed after bundles of cash were found with the son of a party MLA during a Lokayukta raid, state BJP functionaries sought to turn the tables on the opposition, claiming the search and seizure operation is an example of the party’s fight against corruption.
Lokayukta police on Friday said they recovered Rs 6.1 crore from the home of Prashanth Madal, son of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa. A day earlier, sleuths had trapped Prashanth at his father’s office at Vidhana Soudha while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh.

CT Ravi, BJP national general secretary and Karnataka MLA, said the Lokayukta raid showed the party had zero-tolerance for corruption. “Congress would not have conducted the raid if it was in power. It would have tried to close the case,” Ravi told reporters in Chikkamagaluru.
“BJP has zero tolerance for irregularities. We have strengthened the Lokayukta and it has shown its ability.” He accused Congress of “giving a clean chit” to those involved in 54 cases through the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when it was in government.
“Although the Justice Kempanna Commission found Rs 8,000 crore irregularities in the ‘re-do’ exercise of Arkavathy Layout, the Congress government managed to close it,” Ravi said. In Mandya, JC Madhuswamy, law and parliamentary affairs minister, sought to insulate chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and BJP from opposition criticism, by pointing out that Prashanth is a government servant.
He said the CM and party had nothing to do with him. ST Somashekar, minister in charge of Mysuru district, said the Lokayukta raid is not an embarrassment to BJP.
“The government is strengthening the anti-graft body and has extended its autonomy to act against anyone,” he said. Elsewhere, senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa lashed out at KPCC chief DK Shivakumar for seeking Bommai’s resignation in the wake of the scandal. “BJP does not have to take lessons in morality from a leader who went to Tihar jail,” he said.