Armed with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s “confession” that the BJP orchestrated the defection of the rebel legislators, the Congress on Saturday approached the Governor and demanded the resignation of both the CM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In a video clip of Yediyurappa’s speech that went viral on Friday, he is heard saying that it was Shah himself who oversaw the defection by getting the rebel MLAs to camp in Mumbai. And with that, Yediyurappa sought to convince his party leaders that they need to back the disqualified rebel MLAs as it was because of them that the BJP had come to power.
The Congress and the JD(S) plan to use Yediyurappa’s leaked video as evidence to bolster their case against the rebels in the Supreme Court. AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal told reporters in Delhi, “Now it (poaching) is established without doubt with the video evidence of the Chief Minister. He (Yediyurappa) is heard saying that Shah is managing their (Congress-JD-S MLAs’) stay in Mumbai and he is managing the defecting MLAs.”
Read More: Leaked BS Yediyurappa video: Full transcript
Venugopal accused the BJP of misusing the SC. “Now, there is proof and it is shocking that Yeddiyurappa is saying that the Supreme Court might give relief to the rebel MLAs and they can contest elections,” the Congress leader said, adding that the party would move the apex court with fresh evidence.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the clip confirmed that the BJP conducted ‘Operation Kamala’ (poaching MLAs) to bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
“When we earlier pointed this out, the BJP claimed that it had nothing to do with the resignation of 17 MLAs. This clip proves that the party’s national leadership engineered this defection,” Rao said.
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said that by facilitating defections, the BJP had violated the Constitutional provision under Schedule 10 — the anti-defection law. “The BJP has murdered democracy and subverted the Constitution,” he said.
Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said Yediyurappa’s video had been submitted to the Supreme Court.
On Saturday afternoon, a Congress delegation submitted a representation to Governor Vajubhai R Vala, seeking dismissal of both Amit Shah and Yediyurappa. Further, they would also approach the President of India on this matter, as he was the custodian of the Indian Constitution, they said.
For his part, Yediyurappa justified his comments, which he made at a BJP meeting held in Hubballi last week. “What is wrong in what I have said?” Yediyurappa asked.
“The entire world knows what happened, how the MLAs came to Mumbai and that it was because of them that we were able to form the government,” he said.
“But we haven’t promised them tickets. That’s a decision both the state and central leadership will need to take.”
