Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today released two audio clips purportedly of BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa trying to lure JD(S) MLA Nagan Gouda, claiming the party was trying to topple his government and it was being done with the knowledge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kumaraswamy released the clips at a hurriedly called press conference hours before the presentation of the State budget in the Assembly.
He claimed that the clips were purportedly of Yeddyurappa trying to lure JD(S) MLA Nagan Gouda.
Kumaraswamy claimed Yeddyurappa called Nagan Gouda’s son Sharan Gouda in the early hours of Friday attempting to entice his father.
“Without the knowledge of the Prime Minister, is it possible to do this,” he asked, saying Modi should come clean on the issue.
The ruling coalition partners Congress and JD(S) have been accusing the BJP of trying to dethrone their nine-month old government with various offers, including bribe in cash and ministerial berths, a charge the saffron party has rejected.
BJP Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa rubbished as ‘fake’ and ‘a concocted story’ audio clips released by Kumaraswamy.
Shortly after Kumaraswamy released the clips, Yeddyurappa said he had not met anyone to woo JD(S) lawmaker Nagana Gouda as alleged and that the charge against him was ‘far from the truth.’
Yeddyurappa said he went to Devadurga, where the MLA’s son Sharan Gouda claimed to have met him and recorded the conversation, to visit a temple and flew back to the city.
Kumaraswamy had ‘concocted’ the story to hide his failures and inability to keep the JD(S) and Congress flock together, Yeddyurappa told reporters here.
“It is a fake audio… I have not met anyone. Kumaraswamy is trying to hide his failures. This is a drama,” Yeddyurappa said.
He said the Kumaraswamy government had lost the trust of the people and had “no moral right” to continue in office. “Kumaraswamy himself is a film producer. He is an expert in voice recording…. whatever the charge he has made is baseless,” Yeddyurappa said.
He also dismissed a claim by the Chief Minister that he had spoken in the audio about a ‘Rs 50 crore’ offer to the Assembly Speaker.
“I will retire from politics if it (the allegation) is proved…If I had spoken like this (about the speaker), if it is proved… I will resign as an MLA and quit politics,” he said.