In a twist to the cross-voting in the Legislative Council elections leading to the defeat of Congress candidate Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi in June 2012, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary B.K. Hariprasad on Saturday said that the V.R. Sudarshan Committee, which inquired into the incident, had not indicted any MLA in his report and said the allegations were Opposition-engineered to tarnish the image of his party.
Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Hariprasad did not find anything wrong with the so-called misconduct of the Congress MLAs, even if they had voted for others who were in the fray. Moreover, the report, which was reportedly leaded to the media, was not true, as the correct report did not contain the name of any MLA. On the oft-repeated allegation that ticket was sold by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Mr. Hariprasad said that it was as mischievous as the charges made by the Bharatiya Janata Party that MPs were bribed for the passage of the nuclear Bill in Parliament.
Since the Congress was a popular party there was no need for it to indulge in such activities. About the Supreme Court ordering cancellation of mining leases of some Congress leaders contesting polls, he said environmental damage was also one of the reasons for cancelling the leases.
