BJP’s turn to protest after Karnataka governor-Congress face-off

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, January 27, 2026: Protests broke out inside the Karnataka Assembly Tuesday after the Bharatiyta Janata Party accused the ruling Congress of involvement in a Rs 6,000 crore excise scam. The BJP also demanded the suspension of some Congress lawmakers for ’insulting and disrespecting’ Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot amid the ruckus last week over the latter’s speech to a joint sitting of the legislature.

The saffron party and its ally, the Janata Dal Secular, protested with placards and slogans near a statute of Mahatma Gandhi on the Assembly campus. The BJP’s state unit chief, BY Vijayendra, told reporters, "… Rs 6,000-crore scam wherein the excise minister and his family members are involved, and proof has emerged. But Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is not willing to discuss this in the House."

"An investigation by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge is the only answer…"

Vijayendra also accused the state government of trying to cover up the scam by creating "drama" and said, "… we are going to demand the resignation of the Excise Minister (RB Timmapur)."

#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: On Karnataka Minister Ramappa Timmapur, BJP State President B.Y. Vijayendra says, "Rs 6,000 crore scam wherein the excise minister and his family members are involved, and proof has already emerged, but CM Siddaramaiah is not willing to discuss this… pic.twitter.com/twczLdeJQR

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2026

The BJP withdraw the protest after the Speaker siad time will be given to discuss this in the House.

The face-off over the alleged excise scam comes as the BJP itself is under attack over the G RAM G jobs guarantee scheme. The G RAM G – which replaced the 20-year-old Congress-era Mahatma Gandhi-labelled programme – was cleared by Parliament during last month’s winter session.

#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: The BJP and the JDS (Janata Dal (Secular)) stage a protest against the Karnataka government over the row over Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot’s address in the state Assembly at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Vidhana Soudha. pic.twitter.com/okKEekZy3s

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2026

However, now the Congress-led national-level opposition is trying to revive the issue with the hope of targeting the ruling party at the centre, the BJP, before next month’s budget session. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have emerged as the big battlegrounds in this regard. Last week tensions flared in the former after Governor Gehlot refused to read a speech prepared by the state for the special session.

Gehlot read the opening lines, added a few comments of his own to open the session, and walked out, triggering a fierce exchange of barbs, inviting caustic comments from Siddaramaiah over the ’violation’ of the Constitution and becoming a "puppet" in the hands of the centre.

At the core of that quarrel were 11 paragraphs that were seen as criticising the G RAM G scheme and which the Governor wanted deleted. The state government, however, refused to oblige.

The BJP’s R Ashoka, meanwhile, claimed it was the Congress that had put pressure on the Governor and refused to acknowledge the "good work" of the centre. "Congress (in Karnataka) has its own agenda... to convey to Rahul Gandhi ’we are fighting against centre’..."

Meanwhile, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi kicked up a separate storm after he declared himself unfamiliar with the new law’s name. "I don’t know what "G-RAM-G is!" he said at an event spotlighting its predecessor, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Gandhi was slammed for being ’against Lord Ram’ - a criticism that many saw as inadvertently underlining one reason the opposition is unhappy with the G-RAM-G bill, i.e., it invokes a religious figure, Lord Ram, over that of Mahatma Gandhi.