No one from Cong, JD(S) will defect, says Dinesh Gundurao
Bengaluru: A day after an audio clip triggered fresh charges of attempts by BJP to topple the H,D, Kumaraswamy ministry, the state Congress Tuesday said it would lodge a police complaint over the issue while asserting all MLAs of the party and its ruling partner JD(S) were with the government.
“On behalf of the KPCC, we are lodging a complaint to find out between whom the conversation took place... Conspiracies are being hatched, which must be investigated at the government level," Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundurao told reporters here.
He asserted that no MLA from the Congress or JD(S) was ready to switch sides. "We all are together." The audio clip which surfaced Monday and went viral contained purported conversation between a confidant of BJP MLA B Sriramulu and a Dubai-based businessman discussing that at least 10 to 11 MLAs from the Congress and JD(S) were ready to switch sides with specific names being mentioned.
"They have been offered Rs 20 crore to Rs 25 crore and ministership. By the second week it has to happen," the confidant is heard purportedly saying in Hindi in the audio.
Mr Sriramulu Tuesday rejected the charges and questioned the authenticity of the audio clip. The former Ballari MP told reporters that his personal assistant never spoke in Hindi. Meanwhile, Ballari-based mining baron and former BJP minister G Janardhan Reddy Tuesday visited the Jindal Nature Cure Institute in the city, adding more fuel to the speculation since two Congress MLAs were undergoing treatment there.
However, both the MLAs denied any contact between them and Mr Reddy. The ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition had in the past too accused BJP of attempting to poach its MLAs, a charge denied by the saffron party.