Siddaramaiah slaps legal notice on Narendra Modi over 'corrupt' remark

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during 'Meet the Press' programme at the Press Club in Bengaluru, on Sunday. Pic/PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday sent legal notice for criminal and civil defamation to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and the party chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa, for calling him and his government corrupt.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Modi while addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka alleged that the state is a 'seedha-rupaiah sarkar', hinting at Siddaramaiah directly.

The Prime Minister during a public rally on May 3 stated that nothing was possible without bribery in the state. Hitting out at the PM's allegation Siddaramaiah took to his Twitter handle and tweeted, "Dear PM, I am glad you have made corruption an issue in this election because that is your weakest point. You are making baseless allegations of corruption about our government." The Karnataka chief minister also said that the BJP is trying to hide the Rs 35,000 crore illegal iron-ore mining scam of the Reddy brothers.

"Can you speak for 5 minutes on the ethics of using the Reddy brothers to win an election? Making someone who has 23 cases of corruption, cheating, forgery your CM candidate. When will you speak of your top 11 leaders facing corruption cases? Awaiting your answer," the tweet further read.