K'taka BJP demands probe by ED, CBI into Waqf board irregularities

Bengaluru, Nov 2 (IANS) The Karnataka unit of the BJP has demanded a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities by the Waqf board.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday at the BJP office in Bengaluru, former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP legislator C.N. Ashwath Narayan said that the BJP would organise a statewide protest on November 4, demanding the withdrawal of the 1974 Waqf property Gazette notification and calling for a CBI investigation into alleged misuse of authority.

Ashwath Narayan further called for an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the alleged creation of false records in the Karnataka Waqf Board for monetary gains.

He said that the records created over the last 50 years were now being used for minority appeasement and vote-bank politics.

The BJP has been demanding that all records created under this act be investigated by the CBI.

"Farmers, monasteries, and Hindu temples are reportedly concerned about the misuse of the Waqf Act originally enacted by Congress for minority appeasement," Ashwath Narayan said.

He said that this has led to fears among farmers that they might lose their land.

The BJP leader said that merely withdrawing notices was insufficient and demanded that farmers' names be restored to property records and that the 1974 Gazette Notification be repealed.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, R. Ashoka, stated that Congress's promises, or "guarantees", were impractical, which Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has indirectly acknowledged.

Ashoka claimed that Congress should have reviewed the budget before announcing such guarantees, and that many Congress MLAs are themselves questioning the lack of development.

Ashoka further criticised the condition of roads in Karnataka, particularly in Bengaluru, where potholes are found on every road.

He sarcastically offered a Nobel Prize to anyone who could show a pothole-free road in the city, mentioning that the speed of traffic had dropped from 17 km per hour to 11 km per hour due to poor road conditions.

--IANS

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