Karnataka Minister Shivananda Patil is seen with his feet over the notes. Hundreds of notes of different denominations can be seen lying all over the floor
Published Date – 06:31 PM, Wed – 18 October 23
Hyderabad: A video which shows Karnataka Textiles and Sugarcane Minister Shivananda Patil sitting on a sofa while people attending a wedding ceremony in Hyderabad throw notes in air, apart from currency notes strewn all around has once again brought to the fore the issue of cash flowing from Karnataka to Telangana ahead of the Assembly polls.
The Minister is seen with his feet over the notes. Hundreds of notes of different denominations can be seen lying all over the floor. In fact, the minister reportedly admitted that he was present at the function and that people were throwing notes in the air. “It is their tradition to throw a large number of notes during marriages. What can I do? It’s not my mistake,” he said. It is learnt that three more Congress leaders from Karnataka were present during the wedding ceremony.
Interestingly, the bizarre display of cash surfaced days after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought the assistance of Rs 4,860 crore from the Centre as drought aid. As many as 216 taluks of the State are reeling under drought. The State’s farmers have lost crops on 42 lakh hectares and suffered losses to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore. Recently, Shivananda Patil faced anger from drought-hit farmers when he said they killed themselves to get the government’s ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh. Now the same Minister is seen attending a wedding wherein cash is being thrown around.
Recently, the Karnataka government faced a massive criticism after the Income Tax department conducted raids across multiple locations in the State and seized over Rs.94 crore. In another raid by Income Tax officials in Bengaluru city on the residence of former Corporator Ashwathamma and Ambikapathy at RT Nagar, Rs 42 crore stashed in 23 cartons was unearthed. Ambikapathy’s wife Ashwathamma was elected corporator in 1995 and she is the sister of former MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy who was denied a Congress ticket in this Assembly election.
After the IT raids in Karnataka, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had said that the cash found during the raids was intended to be transported to Telangana, which is going to polls on November 30.
“With recently almost a hundred plus crores of rupees found in the IT raids, in carton boxes ready to be transported from Karnataka, there is a doubt of suspicion. It’s because the Telangana Assembly Elections are ahead in a couple of days. Telangana Congress leaders are frequently visiting Karnataka,” BRS leader Krishank Manne had said.
