Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, who has been accused by the BJP of imposing a "DKS tax" for release of payments to contractors who implemented work in Bengaluru during the saffron party’s tenure, has vowed to expose former BJP ministers and their roles in the city's corruption in a couple of days. In the course of an address during the general body meeting of members of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee this week, Shivakumar also vowed that he would not indulge in activities that would harm the Congress party, its workers, leaders and the Congress government in Karnataka. Shivakumar has been accused by the BJP and the JDS of being linked to demands of 10 to 15 per cent commission from contractors of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the release of over Rs 700 crore of payments for work done in the city during the BJP's 2019-23 tenure. However, a section of contractors, which had raised the allegations, have now retracted. "Our primary responsibility is to expose the people who have looted this state and we will do it. There has been so much money that was allotted but no work was done. I will expose all this in a while. I have kept the documents ready," the KPCC chief said this week while claiming to hold back due to the KPCC meeting and Independence Day celebrations. "I will not do anything that embarrasses the government and the Congress party. If I would have betrayed the party, would Sonia Gandhi come and meet me in the prison (when he was arrested by the ED in 2019)? I have to return the trust shown in me," Shivakumar said. Shivakumar also alleged that BJP leaders of Bengaluru are raising false allegations to cover up their own corruption. "Now they have started off about commissions. Who is responsible for seeking 40 per cent commission from the contractors? The Chief Minister has directed us to look at the legitimacy of all claims and then release payments of contractors," he said. "It was they (BJP) who gave out the work contracts. A minister in their (BJP) government said six months ago that the payments of contractors will take two and a half years. They told the contractors that they must take up the work only if they are willing to wait for two and a half years for payments," Shivakumar said. He said the Karnataka Lokayukta had registered a case with regards to a constituency where a Rs 117 crore bill has been claimed without any work being done, he said. "We have suspected large scale irregularities. We have formed a committee with IAS officers and told them to find out if the work has been done as claimed by the contractors. This move has triggered allegations of demands of 15 per cent commission," the Deputy Chief Minister said. According to Congress spokesperson M Lakshman, former BJP minister for higher education C N Ashwathnarayan's brother and family members are among those who were awarded contracts in the BBMP during the BJP tenure while former BJP minister R Ashok got contracts in the name of contractors operating as his benamis. "According to our information, payments worth Rs 2,500 crore are yet to be made (in Bengaluru) and Rs 25,000 crore in the state. Our government has formed four teams to probe these contracts and the corruption in these will be exposed one at a time," the spokesperson said. Lakshman further cited examples of a claim of asphalting 3.9 km of a main road in east Bengaluru while the length of the road, in Domlur, is only 1.3 km. "There are also claims for 15 underpasses and two flyovers which are not completed," he said. "Out of the Rs 2,500 crore works shown as pending payments in the BBMP, work of only Rs 1,000 crore has been assessed to have been completed," the Congress spokesperson said.
