A Karnataka court on Saturday granted bail to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in a defamation case lodged by the BJP.
In the plea, the BJP had accused the Congress leaders of dissemination false advertisements against its party members, including former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Reportedly, Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar appeared in person before the 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate today.
Considering the submissions, the Karnataka court granted them bail. The matter lodged by BJP MLC and general secretary Keshav Prasad, also includes Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Pertinently, the case centers on allegations from the Congress that a 40 percent commission was charged for all public works during the previous government, accompanied by the publication of a corruption rate card.
The complaint stated that the advertisement issued last year on May 5 in all mainstream newspapers accused the Congress leaders of making fanciful, baseless, foundation-less and irrational allegations against the BJP. It further underlined that the advertisement showed the images of accused D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah seeking votes for the Congress.
The complainant stated that the aforesaid phenomenon shows that both the accused were directly responsible for all the false statements in the advertisement. It also alleged that the advertisement made false and reckless allegations under the caption Corruption Rate card. The BJP leader also claimed that false allegations were levied against the saffron party by the KPCC and the other three accused, who had conspired and planned to defame.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka court also summoned Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with the defamation case. Nonetheless, the former Congress President, in his petition, sought an exemption from appearing in court. He stated that election commitments for his unavailability. However, the court mandated his appearance on June 1.