Bengaluru: The BJP state unit on Saturday hit back at Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for releasing what they called was a fake audio tape of their president, B S Yeddyurappa allegedly luring his party MLA and threatened to release a video on Monday showing the JD(S) demanding bribe money.
Speaking to reporters here, BJP spokesman, Ashwath Narayan and MLC, Ayanoor Manjunath claimed that JD(S) leaders had themselves admitted on various occasions to their party taking bribes.
“Mr Prajwal Revanna once said his party had a suitcase culture and gave tickets to those who gave it money. Mr Kumaraswamy too has admitted that since his was a regional party, he would not hesitate to take money,” Mr Narayan recalled, alleging that when supporters of Viju Gowda Patil approached the Chief Minister, he threw up his hands and said that if they gave him '25 crore he would make him an MLC.
Claiming that Mr Kumaraswamy may have used his ultra modern studio to create a fake audio tape to target Mr Yeddyurappa, Mr Manjunath added, “The Congress party, which is cornered at the national level, is using the audio clip to throw mud at BJP national president, Amit Shah and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. What they don’t realise is that Speaker Ramesh Kumar has already spiked the audio clip."
The BJP leaders said the Congress had already cut a sorry figure when it produced a “fake” audio CD of a cabinet minister accusing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of still being in possession of a file on the Rafale deal. “After Congress president, Rahul Gandhi made a hue and cry over the tape, the Goa minister challenged the Congress party to prove its authenticity,” Mr Narayan recalled, claiming the Congress leaders were trying to create a controversy out of nothing.
Replying to a question, Mr Manjunath said Mr Yeddyurappa was in Devadurga on the day the alleged conversation was supposed to have taken place. "He is naïve. Having come up through the agitational politics, he doesn't know the scheming of politicians like Mr Kumaraswamy. The fact that Sharan Gowda desperately wanted to meet him and discuss Operation Kamala itself proves that he wanted to use Mr Yeddyurappa's voice and do a fake sting operation,” he contended
When asked whether Operation Lotus was still on, Mr Manjunath, responded enigmatically, “If a party, which is not eligible to be even the principal opposition, can rule the state, why should not the BJP with 104 MLAs want to be in power?”
