BS Yediyurappa's leaked tape case in Supreme Court

The Congress on Monday sought to put on record before the Supreme Court a purported conversation of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa allegedly admitting to the role of BJP president Amit Shah in dissident activities that led to fall of the JD(S)-Congress government in Karnataka.

Agreeing to take up the matter on Tuesday, a bench of Justices N V Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari said it would consider the plea for taking it on record.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who mentioned the matter on behalf of Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao, said this would have a “material bearing” on the writ petitions filed by the disqualified MLAs.

Read More: Leaked BS Yediyurappa video: Full transcript

The court said the judgement had already been reserved on the petitions filed by disqualified MLAs against the then Speaker’s order. Justice Ramana also observed that politicians do make statements in public life. But as Sibal insisted on putting the tape on record, Justice Ramana said he would request the CJI to set up a special bench.

In his application, Rao said, “The contents of the transcript which contains the speech of Yediyurappa unequivocally establishes the fact that the entire defection of the petitioners in the present batch of writ petitions was at the behest, supervision and directions of the leaders of the BJP.”

Rao further claimed that the perusal of the transcript would clearly reveal that the motive of the disqualified MLAs was to defect and bring down the government headed by H D Kumaraswamy. Thus, it attracted provisions of the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.

On October 26, the court had reserved its judgement on pleas by 17 rebel MLAs of Congress and JD(S) against their disqualification.

Hubballi report

The Intelligence Department is investigating about who videographed Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa at the BJP's internal meeting held in Hubballi recently and leaked it on social media.

The department personnel have reportedly collected information about those who attended the meeting to trace the person. They could not get CCTV footage at the hotel due to technical problems as a letter from higher officials is required for the purpose, a source said.

They have also verified the list of those who attended the meeting based on the registers maintained.

Denissons Hotel general manager Arun Savadatti said some details cannot be disclosed.