Disqualified MLAs resignation led to BJP govt formation: KSE

Koppal: Rural Development Minister KS Eshwarappa said the disqualified MLAs should be credited for the formation of the BJP government in the state and they will not be left behind.

Addressing persons here Eshwarappa said, “The MLAs who resigned from the Assembly are the reason behind the government formation and I am sitting in front of you as a minister. There is no question of leaving their hands. We are with them.”

Earlier on Monday, Yediyurappa said that BJP had nothing to do with the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs, whose resignation had led to the collapse of HD Kumaraswamy government in July this year. The 17 MLAs were disqualified in July by then Karnataka Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar and were barred from contesting polls for the duration of the assembly which ends in 2023.

In the audiotape, Yediyurappa also reportedly hits out at party leaders for lack of support in “saving” the BJP government and not recognising the “sacrifice” of the disqualified MLAs, because of whom they could come to power.

Reacting to the row, the BJP said the Chief Minister was quoted out of context.

“Nobody knows in what context the chief minister had said. He has been quoted out of context,” BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudan told PTI.

Such statements hold no good in any court of law as evidence, the BJP leader added.

Wading into the controversy, JDS leader and former chief minister Kumaraswamy said the BJP as a party stood exposed by the clipping as Yediyurappa himself has “revealed the truth.”