A special court in Bengaluru summoned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and AICC leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday for allegedly running a smear campaign against the BJP with false advertisements before the recent assembly elections.
S Keshavprasad, the state secretary of the BJP, filed the complaint against the leaders on May 9 for publishing an advertisement that claimed the then-incumbent BJP "had looted" Rs 1.5 lakh crore from the state and extracted 40% commission from government contracts.
The complaint claimed that the advertisement damaged the BJP's reputation.
The special court, which only hears criminal cases involving current and former lawmakers, has set July 27 as the recording date for statements.
Tweeting that it is simple to mislead people by speaking falsely and advertising falsely, the BJP praised the court's decision. The party stated, "The court will award the appropriate punishment."
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During the election campaign, the Congress had repeatedly cornered the BJP regarding the 40% commission charge.
Since the State Contractors' Association made the claim in an April 2014 letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party has been making this claim.
A contractor had killed himself, claiming that he couldn't pay his bills because of the high bribes needed.
Two days after Siddaramaiah took office, former CM Basavaraj Bommai slammed the new government, requesting evidence to back up the party's claims and urging contractors to quote 40% less for government contracts now that the new government is in place.
He had demanded that the government investigate all of the frauds committed by the previous administration and release all documents pertaining to corruption charges.
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