Bengaluru: Even as rumours of several Congress MLAs going underground did the rounds, the party high command finally cracked the whip and sent out a clear warning to its disgruntled MLAs that it will not tolerate “blackmail and threatening” tactics.
Speaking to reporters here, Congress general secretary, K.C. Venugopal asserted, “Let me make it very clear that the Congress party is strong enough to deal with people indulging in activities that are against the interests of the party. No blackmail or threats will be tolerated. Strong action will be initiated against those who indulge in such activities.”
In response to a question, Mr Venugopal affirmed that the party has confidence in its MLAs, but it will not hesitate to act against anybody if they are found indulging in mischief. “We know about our MLAs and are also aware of the ground realities, that is the reason why we have not taken any action yet.”
Declaring that no Congress MLA will go to the BJP, he snapped, “What’s wrong if some our MLAs go to Chennai or elsewhere? They are free birds, let them go anywhere they like.”
In the same breath, he added that the party was however verifying all such reports and if true, the party will not hesitate to take action against such MLAs.
Launching a tirade against the BJP, the Congress in-charge alleged that some BJP leaders were trying to lure Congress MLAs to their party by offering money and power.
“State BJP president Yeddyurappa himself has contacted one of our MLAs and has offered money and power. Where are they getting such huge amounts of money from?" he questioned angrily.
Maintaining that the Congress knows how to face such situations, he added that the party had proved it during the vote of confidence motion.
“That time too, the BJP used government machinery and central government agencies, but we thwarted their every attempt. This time too we will be successful,” he asserted.
Answering a question, Mr Venugopal said the much-awaited cabinet expansion would be carried out before October 10 without fail and there was no question of deferring it any further.He added that the appointments to state run boards and corporations would also be carried out simultaneously.
It may be recalled that the party had announced that cabinet expansion would be carried out in the last week of September but deferred it owing to the on-going crisis.
However, officially, the party cited the bypoll to three council seats as the reason for the postponement.
