BANGALORE: After BJP MLC Janardhana Reddy renewed his Rs. 150-crore bribery allegation against Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and two other Janata Dal (S) Ministers, the Congress and Janata Dal (U) demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and an inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation into the allegations.

Addressing presspersons, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge said Mr. Kumaraswamy had no moral right to continue in office.

He should step down immediately and had to come clean. The Government should order a probe by the CBI to reveal the truth and punish those guilty of bribe-taking.

Mr. Reddy would handover all documents and evidence pertaining to bribery charges to the CBI if the Central agency was asked to probe the allegation, Mr. Kharge said.

The Chief Minister cited several reasons and turned down the party's demand for a CBI probe.

The Congress would submit a memorandum to Governor T.N. Chaturvedi on the issue and seek his intervention, Mr. Kharge said.

Mr. Reddy's allegations would take a new turn in State politics and it was the responsibility of the Government to provide security to the BJP MLC, Mr. Dharam Singh said. Mr. Reddy had sought police protection following a threat to his life.

Leader of the Opposition in the Council H.K. Patil told presspersons that the developments in the House only vindicated the Congress' claim that Mr. Reddy had been under pressure to refrain from talking about the issue in the legislature, and he had been prompted, tutored and pressurised, by the BJP.

Earlier, State Janata Dal (U) president B. Somashekar and party MLA J.C. Madhuswamy also demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and a CBI probe into the allegation.

The rebel Janata Dal (S) MLA B.R. Patil also demanded that the Chief Minister resign immediately owning responsibility and seek a fresh mandate from the people.

He told presspersons that the coalition partners had committed a "criminal act " by attempting to "silence" Mr. Reddy.They also forced Mr. Reddy to issue a statement denying his earlier statement. But Mr. Reddy's attempt to make a voluntary statement in the Legislative Council on Wednesday that he stood by the bribery charge only exposed the "unethical politics of the coalition partners".

Terming the Chief Minister's reply to the bribery charge on the floor of the Assembly on Tuesday as "insipid and pointless," he said that it was only a rigmarole intended to mislead the House and keep people in the dark about the facts.

The mere ordering of an investigation into the illegal mining or imposing a blanket ban on all mining would not reveal the truth to the desired extent.

Therefore the Governor, being the Constitutional head of the State, should immediately seek the Centre's intervention to order a CBI probe into the illegal mining.

Attacking Janata Dal (S) president H. D. Deve Gowda, he suggested that it was time he dissolved the party as it had lost "public credibility and political relevance."

He warned that the BJP being a national party would tarnish its image further and render itself politically inconsequential if it did not terminate the coalition arrangement with a dying party like the JD (S).

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail