Home Minister Parmeshwara criticises JPC chairman, says he arrived in state for ‘political reasons’

BENGALURU: Home Minister G Parmeshwara, criticised the Joint Parliamentary Committee Chairman Jagdambika Pal for visiting the districts where it was alleged that land has been forcefully converted to Waqf property, saying that such a decision should have been taken with the committee and not alone.

Parmeshwara said that the JPC Chairman might have come to Vijayapura, Hubballi and other districts for “political reasons.”

“What I came to know JPC Chairman did not discuss with the committee members. He alone, as a single person has come and visited, which is not liked by the committee members, it should have been a collective decision to come and visit such incidents but that has not happened. So naturally he has come on his own, and for political reasons…So if these kinds of things politically if they start using, like JPC which happens to be an all important committee in the Lok Sabha.”

The state home minister further highlighted that the BJP wants to remove CM Siddaramaiah from his post and weaken the Congress, but said that it won’t happen so easily.

#WATCH | Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister G Parmeshwara says, “… JPC Chairman has not discussed with the committee members. He has single-handedly visited the incident…”

On CM Siddaramaiah, he says, “Siddaramaiah is a powerful and popular leader in Karnataka. If the BJP… pic.twitter.com/quynhZAqSb

— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2024

“Siddaramaiah is a powerful and popular leader in Karnataka. Naturally, if the BJP thinks that Congress will become weak if they remove Siddaramaiah, that is not going to happen. First of all they cannot remove Siddaramaiah so easily, and second of all they cannot destroy Congress,” he said.

Siddaramaiah appeared before the Lokayukta Police in Mysuru on Wednesday in connection with the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.

In the Waqf land controversy, the BJP fact-finding committee in Vijayapura in Karnataka submitted their report to Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Chairman, Jagdambika Pal.

The party has alleged that Waqf designations were added to land records for 44 properties in Indi and Chadachan taluks of Vijayapura district without proper notification, following a meeting between Karnataka Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and district officials.

Pal also visited the area of Vijayapura, on the request of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, and attended a protest organised by farmers, MLAs and former MPs. Pal addressing the protesters and said he listened to their problems. (ANI)