Refusing to withdraw its night-long dharna, the BJP members continued their protest in the Assembly on the last day of the session on Wednesday seeking resignation of Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapur over alleged bribery scandal in his department.

As soon as the House met on Wednesday morning, the BJP and the JD(S) members trouped into the well of the House and resumed their dharna. They raised slogans against the Minister and the government.

Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok expressed disappointment over the Minister not tendering his resignation despite “providing evidence” in the form of an audio recording of a conversation between the client and the Excise official on alleged bribery; and a complaint being filed before the Lokayukta by the affected person.

“To uphold morality and ensure accountability, the Minister should immediately resign and allow an impartial probe,” he argued.

Training his guns on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said, “If the Chief Minister fails to ask the Minister to quit, then people of the State will start wondering if he too has a share in the corruption scandal.”

He alleged that the money from the Excise Department had been sent for maintaining the Congress’ election expenses in other States. “In fact Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is in charge of Assam and Energy Minister K.J. George is in charge of Kerala for the Congress,” he said, alleging that “Karnataka has become not ATM, but RBI for the Congress high command.”

He wondered why the government had taken action against only a lower-level Excise official who had asked the applicant to meet the Chief Minister and his son to get a new licence, but spared the higher official who had clearly indicated the need to pay bribes to get a new licence.