The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Thursday registered a formal complaint against several BJP leaders, including former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, for allegedly trying to woo Congress MLAs with money and ministries in return for switching sides in the trust vote scheduled for May 19.
The complaint, which was registered with the Bengaluru Urban Wing Anti-Corruption Bureau, encloses five audio tapes allegedly of BJP leaders attempting to illegally woo Congress MLAs.
MP B Sriramulu, MLA BJ Puttaswamy, mining baron Janardhana Reddy, Yeddyurappa's son Vijayendra and BJP's Karnataka in-charge Muralidhara Rao have been named in the complaint, along with BS Yeddyurappa.
Congress accused them of "criminal conspiracy" to win the vote of confidence in the floor test which was scheduled for May 19. The party has also asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau to book cases against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998.
In the complaint, Congress also claimed that "huge (amounts of) cash" was handed over to Sriramulu, Vijayendra, Puttaswamy and Janardhana Reddy to orchestrate the defections of Congress and JD(S) leaders.
Hours before the trust vote, the Congress released four taped conversations between BJP and Congress leaders. In one recorded conversation, what is allegedly Yeddyurappa’s voice can be heard trying to lure Congress MLA BC Patil. The conversation ended with the Congress leader getting an ultimatum to respond to the offer by calling Sriramulu.
Congress also released a second recorded call alleging that Sriramulu and Muralidhara Rao were trying to woo BC Patil.
In another set of tapes released by Congress leader VS Ugrappa on the same day, recorded phone conversations allegedly show CM Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra and leader BJ Puttaswamy approaching the wife of Congress MLA Shivaram Hebbar and offering to close the mining cases against his son Vivek Hebbar, apart from offering money and a Cabinet position
A day earlier, the party had released a taped conversation purportedly of mining baron Janardhana Reddy claiming that he will make a Congress MLA "100 times richer" if he voted for the BJP.
