Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy dropped a bombshell on Thursday, claiming that the BJP was planning to use “military logistics” to poach Congress and JDS MLAs to topple his government in the state.
Launching a scathing attack on state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa, he said that the desperate BJP was using every trick in the book to engineer mass defections from the coalition to form its government by hook or crook.
“The BJP and Yeddyurappa have crossed all limits. They are telling some of our MLAs that they will take them to Mumbai and Pune and bring them back to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru for a floor test by military planes. What is this?” he asked while speaking to reporters.
He further alleged that the BJP has offered Rs 5 crore in cash among other things to MLAs. “Yeddyurappa and the BJP maintain that they are not toppling the government and they will form the government only if my government goes. In reality they are doing everything,” he said.
Kumaraswamy said the BJP told his MLAs that 18 MLAs from Congress and JDS have already agreed to defect and once the number crosses 20, they will be shifted to Mumbai and Pune. He said the BJP government in Maharashtra has agreed to shelter the MLAs.
He described Yeddyurappa as the “father of percentage politics” in Karnataka and the “most corrupt” politician till date in the state.
“My family has a long history of serving Karnataka people. We have been in politics for the past 60 years. We have always tried to protect the resources of the state. Yeddyurappa has looted the same resources when he was chief minister. What moral rights does he have to call me and others corrupt,” he angrily asked.
He dared Yeddyurappa to use central agencies to “fix” him and others from JDS and Congress. Kumaraswamy warned Yeddyurappa that the state government could do anything to him if he really wants to trouble him.
“Yeddyurappa says he has central government in his hands and can do anything to us. I want to tell him that we have the state government. We can also do anything”, he said.
According to Kumaraswamy, the BJP is holding a series of meetings at various places to unseat him.
He warned the BJP of a mass uprising in Karnataka if they don’t put a full stop to “illegal and unethical” operations. “The attitude of the BJP is sickening. The people are watching them closely. If they continue like this, perhaps the people will rise against them. There will be a mass movement against them across the state. The BJP will have to pay a heavy price,” he said.
JDS MLA Suresh Gowda also warned the BJP that they could also poach MLAs from the saffron party if they don’t stop approaching the ruling party’s MLAs.
Yeddyurappa, earlier in the day, had made yet another blistering attack on Kumaraswamy calling him the most “corrupt” chief minister whose family is into only moneymaking business.
Even though the coalition leaders claim that the government is safe and they have resolved all internal issues, some fear that the BJP might launch an all-out attack anytime.
Kumaraswamy met Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar at a private hospital in the morning. Shivakumar, who was charged with money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday, has been admitted to hospital for food poisoning.
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