The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : CBI probe sought into counterfeit currency haul

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 07, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

CBI probe sought into counterfeit currency haul

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The four expelled leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular), including the Chincholi MLA, Vaijnath Patil, have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the seizure of fake currency from a private bus recently.

The Sangli police in Maharashtra seized Rs. 40 lakhs from a bus owned by a Janata Dal (S) MLA. The MLA and the driver of the bus denied any knowledge about the money seized by the police.

The four leaders alleged that the recovery of fake currency was only the tip of the iceberg and the buses of the same travel company regularly carried such currency and other contraband goods.

Sometime ago, the Bijapur police found one of its buses carrying arms and ammunition.

The former JD (S) leaders — P. Kodandaramaiah, A. Laxmisagar, A.K. Subbaiah, and Mr. Patil — alleged that the legislator was also involved in anti-national and anti-social activities.

Of the four leaders who addressed presspersons, Mr. Kodandaramaiah is a former Commissioner of Police (Bangalore) and MP.

Rift

Referring to the reported differences between the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) President, H.D. Deve Gowda, and the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, the four leaders said they were with the latter in his struggle against the "autocratic" control on the JD (S) being exerted by Mr. Deve Gowda and his family. At no cost should Mr. Siddaramaiah walk out of the party.

On the contrary, he should remain in it and weed out the elements that were working against the party's ideals of internal democracy and collective leadership.

They said Mr. Siddaramaiah and several others in the JD (S) were facing the same problem which they (the four expelled leaders) faced sometime ago which ultimately resulted in their expulsion from the party.

Several other senior leaders such as the former Union Ministers, C.M. Ibrahim and V. Srinivas Prasad, were also against the style of functioning of Mr. Deve Gowda who is bent on installing one of his sons as the Chief Minister.

JD(S) performance

In due course, the Industries Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia, and the Revenue Minister, M.P. Prakash, would also face the same music. "It should be remembered that the JD (S) won 58 seats in the last elections thanks to the popularity of Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Srinivas Prasad in the Old Mysore region.

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