From Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Feb 12: The audio tape in which former Chief Minister and State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa allegedly tried to lure ruling Congress MLA to resign as part of the game plan to pull down the JD(S)-Congress coalition government headed by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and the claim that the Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had been ``booked’’ with a bribe of Rs 50 crore for accepting the resignation of dissident legislators refuses die down.
The controversy, which marred the presentation of the State’s budget for the year 2019-20 by Kumaraswamy on February 8 with the Chief Minister himself releasing the audio tape hours before the presentation of the budget, took dramatic turn with the Speaker asking the Chief Minister on Monday to order a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to find out the veracity within 15 days.
While the Chief Minister expressed his willingness to order the SIT probe as suggested by the Speaker, the opposition BJP which also demanded a probe into the entire audio tape initially subsequently contended that the SIT ordered by the Chief Minister cannot be trusted as the police department was directly under his control and instead the matter could be probed by a House panel or through a judicial probe.
When the House met on Tuesday, the BJP continued its opposition to SIT and said it would welcome a judicial probe or a probe by a house panel. The BJP members vehemently urged the Speaker to reconsider his decision on the SIT probe.
The BJP opposition leader, who had admitted that the voice in the audio tape was his and had alleged that the Chief Minister had doctored the tape, however remained silent during the debate in the House on Monday and Tuesday.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, J C Madhuswamy (BJP) said the Speaker should order a House committee probe or judicial inquiry into the audio tape as the party members do not have faith in the state government and a fair probe by its police monitored SIT.
On Monday, the BJP totally rejected the Speaker's suggestion to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to constitute a SIT to probe charges made against him in the audio.
BJP members S Suresh Kumar, Basavaraj Bommai, and B Sriramulu spoke and urged the Speaker to reconsider his decision on SIT.
On the Speaker’s suggestion, Kumaraswamy on Monday agreed to set up the SIT probe into the audio tape he released on February 8 to expose the BJP’s alleged attempt to lure JD(S) MLA to join the BJP. The Speaker has asked for the inquiry report in the next 15 days.
Intervening during the debate, Kumaraswamy said, "The question here is not whether it has to be SIT or a judicial inquiry. They (BJP) say they don’t have confidence in me and my government.”
The BJP allegedly attempts to keep ruling MLAs holed up in Mumbai in a bid to topple the government.
On the BJP’s allegations on the audio clip from 2014 wherein Kumaraswamy heard demanding money from the JD(S) leader in exchange of a seat in the Legislative Council, the Chief Minister said “that incident happened within my party. I’m ready to discuss that. I won’t run scared. That happened at my house. Mine is a regional party. We pay income tax every year. It was about making someone in my party MLC. But why did you reach out to the son of my MLA?”
When BJP members objected to the Chief Minister’s comment on JD(S) MLA holed up in Mumbai, the House witnessed noisy scenes as the ruling and opposition members levelled charges and counter-charges. Seeing the stormy scenes, the speaker to adjourn the house.
Later, Shivalinge Gowda of the JD(S) and Revenue Minister R V Deshpande defended the Speaker decision to conduct a SIT probe. He said the BJP murdered the democracy by making efforts to topple the coalition government.
The Assembly was adjourned without taking any decision even as efforts were made to resolve the deadlock by holding discussions between the treasury and opposition members in the Speaker’s chamber.