Yeddyurappa received Rs 4.11 crore bribe for Upper Bhadra project: Congress

Bengaluru: Congress on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa had received kickbacks of Rs. 4.11 crore from RNS Infrastructure Ltd. (RNSIL) for awarding Rs. 1,033-crore tender works for Murudeshwara Power Corporation Ltd., a subsidiary of RNSIL, for implementing the Upper Bhadra Project. Releasing Income Tax Department documents and returns filed by Yeddyurappa during 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, V.S. Ugrappa, Congress MLC, alleged that Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister from May 2008 to July 2011 and he had received Rs 1 crore each in 2008-09, and 2009-10, and Rs 2.11 crore in 2010-11, amounting to a total of Rs 4.11 crore from RNSIL for awarding contract works. As chairman of the Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (KNNL), Yeddyurappa awarded tenders of the Upper Bhadra Project to Murudeshwara Power Corporation Ltd. The project was proposed to provide irrigation facilities in the drought-prone regions of Chitradurga and Chikkamagalur districts. Since Yeddyurappa has not disclosed his income while filing I-T returns, the I-T Department had issued an order in 2016 directing the former Chief Minister to pay a penalty of Rs 2.22 crore (Rs. 2,22,49,359). I-T notices issued on March 8, 2016, said, “Yeddyurappa [has] to reconcile his stand in response to the evidences”. Ugrappa said “bribes” received by Yeddyurappa were unearthed during the I-T searches/seizures in offices of the RNSIL in Bengaluru and Hubballi. He said the authorities concerned should take cognisance of the matter and file a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. “If the authorities concerned failed, then the Congress would file a complaint before appropriate authorities,” he said. Source:News Karnataka