CT Ravi targets Nagendra over Valmiki Corporation case, says he is expert of diverting funds to fake accounts

Bengaluru: BJP MLC C.T. Ravi on Wednesday took a dig at Minister B. Nagendra, saying Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar should have given him the Finance portfolio instead of the Statistics department because he was allegedly an expert in transferring money to fake bank accounts.

Speaking to reporters at the BJP office in Vidhana Soudha, Ravi alleged that if Nagendra were made the Finance Minister, he would be able to transfer money from the state treasury to bank accounts across the country and misuse public funds.

Ravi said Nagendra is currently out on conditional bail in connection with the multi-crore scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. He stressed that the minister had not been cleared of the allegations and said the BJP would continue its campaign seeking his resignation.

He also alleged that Nagendra may have been blackmailing the present and former Chief Ministers as well as the Congress high command.

Ravi described the Valmiki Corporation case as much more than a percentage-based corruption case.

"This is not a percentage story. It is one of the biggest and most brazen instances of loot in the history of Karnataka," he alleged.

He accused the minister, the corporation's managing director, accounts officer and personal assistant of diverting money meant for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribe community for their own benefit.

"This is an insult to the Scheduled Tribe community," he said.

Ravi said the Constitution protects every Indian but does not provide protection to those involved in corruption.

He recalled that Nagendra had held a copy of the Constitution when he became a minister and said it would protect him. "But the Constitution does not protect corrupt people. It provides for punishment," Ravi said, alleging that Nagendra had violated constitutional values.

Responding to Nagendra's claim that he was being targeted because he belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community, Ravi said corruption had no caste.

"The money that was taken belonged to the Scheduled Tribe community. It was meant for their welfare," he said.

Ravi further alleged that oral instructions allegedly given by Nagendra when he was the minister played a major role in the diversion of funds from the corporation to different bank accounts.

He claimed that the corporation's funds were transferred to various accounts based on the minister's verbal instructions and alleged that Nagendra's role in the entire case was significant.