Bangalore: The Bharatiya Janata Party accuses Congress for its attempt to subvert its Government, a day later when the Karnataka High Court upheld disqualification of 11 rebel lawmakers. They also sought to evoke Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, a former Congress leader.
Early State BJP chief K.S. Eshwarappa at a press conference said that one of Karnataka Union Minister’s relative had paid Rs.389, 000 bills for the stay and other expenses of several rebel lawmakers in a star hotel in Chennai in October.
Revealing the information, he said that those were the copies of the bill raised by the hotel Oct 12. The bills were in the name of a firm owned by the businessman who is the son-in-law of a union minister, but the Eshwarappa declined to name the minister.
The MLA’s had stayed in hotels in Chennai, Goa, Mumbai and Kochi after revolting against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Oct 6.
Similarly, a handwritten note on the copies of the bills was circulated at the press meet which stated that ‘The entire amount is paid by cash by their representative. The hotel administration wanted a PAN (Permanent Account Number) no. but till 20/10 they had not come back.’ There was no signature or name of the person writing the note on the copies.
BJP launched a plan against Bhardwaj and sought his immediate recall if he does not resign on his own because of his ‘illegal and unconstitutional acts’. But Bhardwaj said speaker K.G. Bopaiah not to disqualify the rebels.
In this regard, Bhardwaj had directed Yeddyurappa to seek a trust vote in the assembly and had told Bopaiah to maintain the relationship of the House and not to disqualify the rebels, but Bopaiah ignored Bhardwaj’s suggestion and disqualified the 11 BJP and five independent lawmakers which brought down the effective strength of the 225-member house to 209 in the assembly.