Bengaluru: State home minister Priyank Kharge Saturday said he has little information about CBI approaching governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for sanction to prosecute minister B Nagendra, and insisted the central agency must first write to the state govt before taking any such step.CBI is believed to have recently sought the governor’s nod to prosecute Nagendra, who is facing charges over the alleged embezzlement of crores of rupees in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation.Priyank said the agency had earlier written to then chief secretary Rajneesh Goel saying no cases should be handed to it without the state also supplying investigating staff. “If we have to provide the investigation officers, that means we are doing the investigation,” he said.Priyank also referred to a state law that requires CBI to seek the govt’s permission or opinion before pursuing any probe or prosecution in Karnataka, saying he wasn’t aware of what exactly was submitted to the governor.The issue comes as assembly proceedings were disrupted for a fifth straight day Friday, with BJP and JD(S) functionaries planning to continue their protest demanding Nagendra’s removal from the cabinet when the legislature session resumes Monday after weekend break.Nagendra, who had quit the earlier Siddaramaiah cabinet over the same allegations, was brought back into the DK Shivakumar-led ministry on Aug 3 as minister for planning and statistics. He was arrested by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case in July 2024 and got bail from a special court in Bengaluru that Oct; both ED and CBI have named him in their chargesheets.Asked about the opposition’s planned march from Raichur to Ballari over the issue, Kharge brushed it aside: “Now they are speaking about a Raichur to Ballari march. Let them do it. But, what is the cause of their march?”When told the march targeted the induction of a “corrupt” person into the cabinet, he hit back citing BJP MLA Chandu Lamani, who was caught by Lokayukta: “The person trapped by Lokayukta is fighting against corruption.”
