Hiriyur (K'taka), Oct 11 (PTI) The Congress Tuesday demanded the sacking of BJP minister S T Somshekhar in Karnataka after the Supreme Court rejected his plea to stay an FIR in a Rs 12-crore bribery case.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Karnataka Randeep Surjewala asked Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai when he will sack the minister of state for co-operation.

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Somshekhar was elected from the Yeshvanthapura assembly seat in 2018 on a Congress ticket, but later defected and won the by-election in 2019 as a BJP candidate.

"The Chronology -- Bribery of Rs 12 Crore alleged in a BDA Contract. Lokayukta Police orders an FIR against Minister S.T.Somshekhar and others on Sept 18, 2022. SC declines the plea to stay FIR. Mr @BSBommai, when will u sack him?," Surjewala asked on Twitter, using the hashtag "#40PercentSarkara".

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The Supreme Court Monday refused to consider separate pleas by Somashekar, IAS officer G C Prakash and businessman K Ravi against lodging of a corruption case pertaining to a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) construction project.

The court had earlier stayed the probe against former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in connection with the FIR.

The case relates to bribe charges to award a BDA contract to a construction firm to build a housing complex when the BJP's Yediyurappa was chief minister.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)