The Karnataka Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, on Sunday refuted allegations that the dissident BJP MLAs were paid Rs. 25 crore each. It was the BJP's character to indulge in such allegations, he said.
“After the 2008 elections, they made a few MLAs support the BJP by paying them money. They think that we will also be doing the same,” he alleged.
Talking to journalists here, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he had mutual understanding with the MLAs. Though the BJP Ministers were pressuring all the MLAs for the past one week, they stood together. “Even now, they are going to vote against the Yeddyurappa government or abstain from voting.” He described as “hypothetical” a question whether the dissident MLAs would be given berths in a ministry of the JD(S) if it formed a government.
Asked whether more MLAs would join his camp, he said: “We have another 24 hours.”
“We have a strategy to defeat the government,” he said. He also had plans to challenge the Speaker legally, he added.
