Tumakuru: Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwar claimed here on Tuesday that Mr Anand Singh had met Bharatiya Janata Party leaders before he resigned as Vijaynagara MLA and as for Mr Ramesh Jarkiholi, who had also quit, he observed that he had always been open about his meetings with the saffron party's leaders.
Blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party for both resignations, he, however, asserted that they would not impact the Janata Dal (Secular)–Congress government, which would remain stable.
“The two legislators were under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party to resign and Operation Lotus to poach our legislators is now being directly run by its central leaders,” he charged, speaking to reporters here.
Warning of a counter- offensive, Dr Parameshwar claimed that some BJP leaders were in touch with the Congress as they found it suffocating to remain in their party.
“One will have to wait and see how things develop,” he added.
When it was pointed out that Mr Anand Singh claimed to have resigned in protest against the proposal to sell 3,666 acres of mining land to Jindal South West Company in Ballari district, he said that he should have discussed the matter with the cabinet sub-committee formed to look into the issue.
“The sale has not yet been finalised as the cabinet sub-committee is looking into it,” he noted, explaining that the coalition government had only gone by the state's industrial policy, which permitted sale of land to a company after 10 years of leasing it to it.
“In fact, the lease-cum-sale agreement was drawn up for Jindal company when state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa was the Chief Minister,” he recalled.
