Hassan: Former prime minister and president of Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Deve Gowda on Sunday wanted a case to be booked against Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for allegedly indulging in the poaching of MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) to bring down the previous coalition government in the state.
He cited the precedent of Uttarakhand where former chief minister Harish Rawat was booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on charge of indulging in horse trading.
“The same yardstick should be followed in Karnataka too,” he felt and added that “In a democratic set-up, the yardstick should be the same for all.”
He was, however, sceptical if the same yardstick would be applied to Karnataka where Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister Yediyurappa is accused of indulging in poaching of MLAs ‘Operation Kamala’ and accused the Union government of adopting double standards on horse trading.
Asked about the leaked audio-tape in which Mr Yediyurappa had spoken on the disqualified MLAs, the former prime minister said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ramnath Kovind are aware of the audio-tape but are tight lipped on the incident.
“Already, the Congress party had complained to Governor Vajubhai Vala on the audio-tape and have also brought it to the notice of President Ramnath Kovind,” he added.
