Bengaluru: Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday, February 8, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for attempting to bring down the state government. He alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party had tried to bribe the Karnataka Speaker.
HDK, in a press conference at his home office in Bengaluru prior to presenting the state budget on Friday, said, “BJP is saying it would give Rs 50 Crore to Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar. Where are you getting the money after demonetisation? Are you giving white money or black money? That too to the Speaker.”
Kumaraswamy claimed that Gurmitkal MLA Nandangouda Kankur’s son Sharan Gouda had received calls from Yeddyurappa in the wee hours of Friday, asking the MLA to defect to BJP. He went on to release an audio file of the BJP allegedly trying to lure a Janata Dal (S) MLA through his son.
Sharan Gouda, who was also at the press meet, said that he met Yeddyurappa in Devadurga at 12.30 AM on Friday after informing Kumaraswamy. Alleging that the BJP claimed to have 11 Congress and JD(S) leaders, he said, “They said they would give my father district in-charge minister’s post. They asked my father and me to go to Mumbai and also offered Rs 25 Crore. They offered me a ticket to contest elections.”
Sharan Gouda also said that Yeddyurappa had told him that BJP had given Rs 50 Crore and booked the Speaker, and also claimed to have judges on their side.
Concluding the press conference, Kumaraswamy said, “I am writing a letter to the Speaker stating that the BJP has brought shame upon the Assembly by claiming to have the Speaker in its pocket. I will ask him to conduct an inquiry if needed.”
Responding to the allegations, Yeddyurappa, in a press conference said, “I haven’t met anyone. This is a drama that they are playing. The coalition government in Karnataka has lost the trust of the people and have no moral right to continue. Kumaraswamy is an expert in voice recording and can produce anything he wants. Whatever he has produced in the press meet today is fake and baseless.”
“If the chief minister can prove this, I will resign from my MLA post and retire from politics. He’s a cinema producer. He is an expert at all this. Let him prove first. Within 24 hours I’ll retire from politics, 101%, if he can prove it,” added Yeddyurappa.
