Bengaluru, 24 October

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka hit back at Home Minister Priyank Kharge for demanding that the RSS seeks permission for route marches, noting that when his father, Mallikarjun Kharge, was the State home minister, he had allowed such processions to take place without such fuss. 

Priyank raises objections for almost every issue, Ashoka sarcastically remarked at a presser in Bengaluru.

The RSS had planned marches to celebrate Vijayadashami in various parts of Karnataka on Saturday on Sunday and had had written a letter to police about the same. However, Priyank objected to this, saying that “informing” police was not the same as “seeking permission” and said that cops are not their “slaves”.

Ashoka challenged Priyank to clearly explain the procedure for obtaining permission for such marches, and noted that the organisation operates across India. 

Conditional police permission has been granted for route marches scheduled for 25 October in Kalaburagi, Ramanagara and Hubballi.

Preparations are also underway for RSS programmes in Kolar and Mysuru. Meanwhile, permission for events in various parts of Tumakuru district was reportedly still pending at the time of the report. An official clarification is awaited regarding the reason for the delay.

GARBAGE SCAM 

Ashoka claimed that an ineligible company has been awarded a garbage tender in Bengaluru for a staggering Rs 133 crore in exchange for kickbacks. 

He said the Letter of Acceptance had been issued in May 2026 to Muniyappa Enterprises, a company, the BJP leader claimed, which doesn’t even have a GST number and is a benami firm. Ashoka also held up documents floated by the BBMP for waste and transfer stations during the presser. 

“Even though there were more eligible companies, no negotiations were held with them. The BBMP Commissioner or the Urban Development Department Commissioner should have negotiated to bring down the rates. Rules were bypassed to loot. Autos have to travel 8–10 km to transport waste. In that case, even two trips will not be possible”, he said.

Ashoka alleged that in order to get such a tender, a company was required to have a turnover of Rs 10 crore, a rule the State government implemented in 2018. But Muniyappa Enterprises had a turnover of only Rs 3.34 crore in 2023-24, and before that its annual turnover was Rs 1-2 crore, Ashoka claimed. 

“Eligibility conditions were violated to take a 40 per cent commission,” the LoP alleged. 

WASTE STATIONS 

Ashoka further claimed that tenders had been floated for waste stations even though the government hadn’t even identified sites yet. 

He said that he would write to Chief Minister DK Shivakumar requesting that the tenders be cancelled. 

He also demanded a Lokayukta probe into the case. 

BANGLADESHIS & SHAH 

Ashoka also repeated his claim that there were 25,000 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants were residing in Karnataka, and said that the government must take steps to remove them. However, this figure requires independent verification from official sources.

Ashoka had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week. 

Shah “has said that said that information about political developments in Karnataka should be given every two or three months. Accordingly, I will give him the information”, Ashoka said.