Bengaluru: State BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa claimed in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that the main accused in the audio tape controversy was Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy himself.
Participating in a debate, Mr Yeddyurappa alleged that Mr Kumaraswamy had created a fake tape and released it to the media (to claim that the BJP was trying to topple his government).
"This amounts to creating a false document. The entire audio of over 40 minutes has been cut to two or three minutes to suit their requirements. This attracts the provisions of the IPC and IT Act,'' he said, adding, "In the first place, when Mr Sharan Gouda told Mr Kumaraswamy that he had received a call from someone, he should have advised him not to get involved. Instead, he asked him to go and record the conversation. This is a criminal conspiracy. Secondly, if Mr Kumaraswamy had any respect for the Speaker, he should have met him to explain the situation."
Claiming that 20 Congress MLAs did not want to work under Mr Kumaraswamy , he said "It is not my or BJP's problem. JD(S) should hold its flock together."
The BJP leader also alleged that Mr Kumaraswamy had tried to lure BJP MLA, Subhas Guttedar with offer of a ministerial post and demanded Rs 25 crore from Mr Vijugouda Patil to make him MLC.
Responding, Mr Kumaraswamy said the BJP should have had more sense than to approach Nagatana MLA, Nagana Gouda's family as he and JD(S) supremo, Deve Gowda shared five decades of bonding. "They should have realised that Mr Nagana Gouda would never desert us. When Sharan Gouda called me at 11 pm, saying that BJP members were forcing him to join them, I did ask him to go and meet them. But did I ask the BJP people to talk the way they did?,'' he added disparagingly.
Admitting that he had asked Mr Vijugouda Patil to give the party Rs 25 crore, he said he saw nothing wrong in this as he was running a regional party, which filed I-T returns.
Hitting back at the BJP for their comments against the state police, former CM Siddaramaiah said he had faith both in the Karnataka police and the CBI and recalled he had handed over 5 cases as CM to the agency.
