Bengaluru: Stoutly denying speculative reports that he was a victim of ‘Operation Kamala’ launched by the BJP, sacked Kollegal Bahujan Samaj Party MLA N. Mahesh attributed his absence during the crucial trust vote on Tuesday to a 'communication gap' and clarified that he had never disobeyed the diktat of party supremo Mayawati.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Mr Mahesh ruled out joining the BJP at any cost and said he would like to remain neutral in the Assembly.
On Tuesday evening, he came to know that he had been sacked by Ms Mayawati for remaining absent during the trust vote. Since his mobile phone was switched off, he did not get the directive from national leaders to participate in the session and to vote for the coalition government.
He recalled how he had to resign as minister following instructions from 'Behenji' and said since then, he had remained aloof from all parties and had sought separate seating arrangements in the Assembly.
"I was in the constituency to strengthen the party till July 15. Before this, I was informed to remain neutral during the trust vote. In fact, the issue was discussed with BSP state in-charge Dr Ashok Siddarth who asked me to remain neutral. As per his directions, I remained absent on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a gram panchayat member passed away in my constituency and so I had to stay back in Kollegal. I had no intention of overruling the directions of Behenji,” he added.
