New Delhi:The Congress on Thursday reiterated its demand for sacking and arrest of Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa in connection with the death of contractor Santosh Patil. Patil had alleged Eshwarappa that he had demanded a 40 per cent commission on the value of the contract work executed by him. “Instead of arresting Minister Eshwarappa, the 40 per cent commission Basavaraj Bommai Government has arrested former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, state Congress DK Shivakumar, myself and others. BJP can’t put a lid over corruption by such acts of suppression on Babasaheb Jayanti!,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who has staged a protest in Bengaluru against the ruling dispensation, said in a series of tweets. Accusing CM Basavaraj Bommai of murdering the Constitution, Surjewala said, “Will CM Bommai answer – Why has he not sacked a murder-abatement to murder accused Minister Eshwarappa from the Cabinet? Would the same VIP treatment would have been given to an ordinary Kannadiga ? Why is CM defending Eshwarappa in negation of oath of the Constitution? We will not relent, we will not bow down, until Eshwarappa is arrested and sacked.” On Wednesday, Eshwarappa denied his involvement in the death of Patil and said a conspiracy was being hatched to malign his image. Patil’s body was found in a lodge in Udupi on Tuesday. The police suspected it to be a case of suicide. UNI DS SY 1447
