BJP legislator to go public with evidence against CM today

Political parties in Karnataka were gripped by palpable anxiety yesterday as BJP legislator Janardhan Reddy declared that he would go ahead with his plan to release documentary evidence to prove that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had accepted bribe amounting to Rs 1.5 billion from the mine owners of Bellary.

Reddy, who was in Bangalore on Tuesday, said he will go public with the evidence at a press conference convened in Bellary, about 300 kms from here, on Wednesday. “I will expose the Chief Minister by going public with the documentary evidence in my possession. All the people in the state will know about it”, he told reporters.

Reddy has accused Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Forest Minister C Chennigappa and Home Minister M P Prakash of accepting bribe from illegal mine owners of Bellary. The evidence in Reddy’s possession includes recorded transcripts and CDs showing how the bribe was collected by the accused from the illegal mine owners in Bellary.

According to sources close to Reddy, Forest Minister C Chennigappa’s conversations with mine owners from Bellary had been recorded and the same would be made public.

Meanwhile, Reddy told reporters that he was in Bangalore to file a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking a CBI probe into the bribery charges against the Chief Minister and two of his colleagues. “I am filing a writ petition seeking a CBI probe”, he said.

Though the political atmosphere in Karnataka remained surcharged over the anticipated release of documentary evidence against the Chief Minister’s involvement in a bribery scandal, Kumaraswamy sought to play down the hype surrounding the episode.

“Let him make a film if he has recorded conversations relating to the bribery scandal in a CD”, Kumaraswamy said. But, Reddy claimed that the Chief Minister instead of giving a satisfactory reply to the allegation was finding an easy way out by ridiculing the evidence.

The BJP, which is a partner in the ruling coalition in Karnataka, has said that the party will ascertain the authenticity of the evidence purportedly in possession of their party legislator before taking a decision on the matter.

“Let him go public with the evidence. We will ascertain all the facts before taking any decision”, senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said. However, he sought to clarify that the party had not made any efforts to prevent Reddy, who has already been suspended from the party, from disclosing the evidence in his possession.

The Opposition Congress has predicted the early collapse of the JD (S)-BJP coalition in Karnataka. President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) M Mallikarjun Kharge said the feuds between the coalition partners will bring down the Government. “The instability dogging the Government had little to do with the Congress and more to do with the BJP”, Kharge said referring to the bribery charges levelled against the Chief Minister by the BJP legislator.