Bengaluru: Continuing his attack on CM Siddaramaiah, state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa on Friday dared him to resign from his post, dissolve the assembly and go in for fresh polls now that details of the diary seized from MLC Govindaraju’s residence during I-T raids were out and showed he had paid off the party high command to save his position.
Recalling that Mr Siddaramaiah had challenged him to produce evidence to prove his charge on the Rs 1000 crore pay-off, he said he should own moral responsibility now and opt for fresh elections immediately. “Let us go to people’s court,” he added. The BJP chief, who was speaking to reporters here, dismissed Mr Govindaraju’s claim that no diary was listed in the items seized during the I-T raid on his home “A mahazar was prepared after the raid and the diary was one of the many things that the I-T department seized from Mr Govindaraju’s home. If he tries to mislead people on this at this stage, he could get into more trouble,” he warned. As for KPCC working president, Dinesh Gundurao’s claim that BJP was only out to tarnish the image of the Congress government.
Payoffs: Gowda keeps away
While the Congress and BJP continue to trade charges over “paying off” their respective high commands, Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch, H.D. Deve Gowda on Friday refused to comment on the issue, saying he wanted to keep away from the mudslinging between the two parties. “Since ours is a regional party, there is no question of such payments being made. This issue will not die down immediately as both parties will continue the mudslinging till the elections next year,'' he said. State Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy was, however, more candid in his comments, saying Karnataka was cursed as the two parties used it to fill their respective coffers.
