Hails Kejriwal, hints at tie-up with AAP
The Janata Party has demanded a criminal investigation against Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal if his allegations of bribery turn out to be false.
The party has submitted a letter to the Uplokayukta chief B. S. Patil demanding an inquiry.
Yatnal had claimed that he was offered the chief minister’s post for Rs 2,500 crore.
“If what he’s saying is false, there should be investigation against him. If what he’s saying is true, there should be a case against the people he is accusing of corruption,” B.T. Lalitha Naik, state president of the party, said while speaking to reporters outside the Lokayukta office.
Asked about the corruption charges against BJP ministers, she applauded the Aam Aadmi Party for their “corruption-free governance”.
“The role model should be Kejriwal when it comes to corruption. He is against it. There might be a possibility of alliance of Janata Party and AAP in the future as our ideologies match…. We just want the BJP out,” she said.
Abdu Rauf, who heads the Karnataka minority cell of the party, said: “This is a very serious matter, if the issue of Rs 2500 crore claim is true then anybody can become the CM”
At a convention in Belagavi on May 5, Yatnal, a former minister, claimed he was approached by “some people”, whose identity he did not disclose, with an offer to become Karnataka CM if he paid Rs 2,500 crore.
According to a Hindustan Times report, he said: “They will promise to take you to Delhi, make you meet Sonia Gandhi, J.P. Nadda. They have done it to people like me. Some people had come to me from Delhi stating that they will make me Chief Minister and I should arrange Rs 2,500 crore.”
This led Former CM Siddaramaiah to ask if the CM’s seat was for sale.
KPCC president, D.K. Shivakumar tweeted that Yanal’s claim should be taken seriously. “I demand that ED, CBI, IT Dept and ACB should lodge a suo motu complaint and investigate the matter,” he tweeted.
This isn’t the first time Yatnal has faced trouble from his party. In 2021, he demanded the resignation of then Chief Minister, B S Yediyurappa, to help the party to survive.
Yatnal, who has always been a vocal critic of his party, is called a rebel MLA. In 2015, he was expelled from the BJP for six years for not withdrawing his nomination for an assembly seat. He was taken back in 2018.
swarali.b@iijnm.org
