Bengaluru: The JD(S), which has taken some decisive action of late to save the coalition government in the state with CM H.D. Kumaraswamy himself addressing the concerns of Congress rebels, has now petitioned the Speaker against alleged attempts to poach its party MLAs and those of the Congress with offers of money.
JD(S) convener, Ramesh Babu, has in a memorandum urged Speaker R Ramesh Kumar to intervene and take action against “parliamentarians, legislators and anti-social elements,” trying to lure the legislators. Although the coalition government was formed in accordance with Constitutional norms and the rulings of the Supreme Court, and Mr Kumaraswamy was elected CM with the support of 116 legislators, there had been attempts to destabilise the government from day one, Mr Babu said. He claimed that the process had been intensified over the last one month, as was evident by the statements of state BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa.
Listing the MLAs, he alleged, “ During the last few days, the BJP has offered Rs 30 crore each to Nagamangala legislator Suresh Gowda, Sakaleshpur MLA H.K. Kumaraswamy, Nagatana MLA Devananda Chouhan, and Nelamangala MLA Dr Srinivas Murthy to resign from the legislature. Besides, television channels have revealed that similar offers were made to H D Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadu, Hirekarur MLA B C Patil, Hoskote MLA MTB Nagaraj, Kundagol MLA Shivalli, Bidar MLA Rahim Khan and Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi.” Arguing that such developments harmed the sanctity of the legislature and were a betrayal of the people who had elected the MLAs, Mr Babu urged the Speaker to put a stop to such resignations.
