From Our Special Correspodent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Feb 13: Turning the tables on State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa, who had alleged that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had paid Rs 1000 crore to the Congress high command to retain his post, the ruling Congress party has come out with damning CD in which the former BJP Chief Minister is heard purportedly admitting to have paid huge sums of money to BJP high command during his tenure in the State.
Senior cabinet ministers in the Siddaramaiah government MB Patil, Ramesh Kumar, Basavaraj Rayareddy, Sharanprakash Patil and Congress party leaders VS Ugrappa and HM Revanna, who released the CD at a joint press conference in Bengaluru on Monday, accused Yeddyurappa and Union Minister Ananth Kumar of hatching a conspiracy to bring down the Siddaramaiah government.
"Yeddyurappa's allegations of Rs1000crore payment to Congress high command and Rs 65 crore kickbacks to Siddaramaiah in theHebbal Steel Flyover project are part of the conspiracy to destabilise Siddaramaiah government," they alleged.
The Congress leaders claimed that the two BJP leaders are heard amid audio disturbance of the mike discussing about the alleged dairy said to have been seized by IT and ED sleuth from MLC Govindaraju's residence, which is said to contain details of Rs 1000 crore siphoned-off by Siddaramaiah government to pay Congress high command.
The two BJP leaders are heard in the CD during the party’s Core Committee meeting of having admitted that they too had mobilised resources for BJP high command when the party was in power in the State, the Congress leaders said.
Ananth Kumar is heard asking Yeddyurappa to keep the issue alive till the next election to nail Siddaramaiah government, and this kind of gimmick will not work, the Congress leaders claimed.
The Congress ministers challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct a probe into the "admission of Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar on paying money to BJP high command."
"The CD has exposed that the money looted from illegal mining and denotification of lands during BJP government has been paid to BJP national leadership," the ministers said.
The ministers also questioned as to how Yeddyurappa got the documents, which is said to have been seized by ED and IT sleuths and wondered whether Modi government was deliberately trying to weaken and defame Congress government in the State as part of the strategy to strengthen the chances of Yeddyurappa’s victory in the 2018 assembly polls.
The BJP leaders in the State and at the Centre are deeply worried about serious reverses in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and also in Uttarakhand and Goa, the Congress leaders contended.
It may be recalled here that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has challenged Yeddyurappa to produce document to justify his allegations and prove the same. “If it’s proved I will resign from politics,” Siddaramaiah had said and challenged Yeddyurappa, who himself had gone to jail over corruption and other illegal dealings and is still not out of the cloud, should prove his allegations.
Meanwhile, MLC Govindaraju told mediapersons that he has filed a defamation case against BS Yeddyurappa. When reporters sought to know about the diary, Govindaraju retorted that he is not aware of any diary that Yeddyurappa is claiming. "Please ask IT officials," he said.
Watch video: