Karnataka High Court stays BJP's defamation case against CM Siddaramaiah over 'corruption rate' ads

The Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed a defamation case filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is among the Congress leaders accused of publishing defamatory newspaper advertisements about the earlier BJP-led State government's tenure [Siddaramaiah v. Bharatiya Janata Party].

The Court had earlier granted similar interim relief to Rahul Gandhi, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, all accused in the same case.

Justice SR Krishna Kumar today stayed the trial court proceedings against Siddaramaiah and tagged his plea to quash the case with related petitions filed before the High Court by other accused in the same case. The Court also sought the BJP's response to Siddaramaiah's petition.

Advocate General for Karnataka Shashi Kiran Shetty appeared for Siddaramaiah.

The criminal case was filed against the Indian National Congress (INC), the KPCC and Congress leaders on allegations that they were responsible for publishing newspaper advertisements with derogatory allegations about the BJP-led State government's tenure between 2019 and 2023.

Among other statements, these ads are reported to have called the then BJP regime led by erstwhile Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai a "40 per cent commission sarkar", alleging that the government charged commissions in public procurements, awards of contract work, supplying COVID-related supplies, etc. A similar comment was also made by Rahul Gandhi in a public speech, according to reports.

The ads accused the BJP-led State government of having looted the Karnataka public of ₹1,500 crore during its tenure through corrupt activities like charging commissions. The ads also accused the government of having put in place a system where there were "score cards" and "rate cards", referring to bribes paid to secure government posts.