Union Labour and Employment Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has charged the BJP leadership of holding out empty threats to the Ministers and legislators openly supporting Karnataka Janata Paksha leader B.S. Yeddyurappa.
Dismissing Cooperation Minister B.J. Puttaswamy and suspending Tumkur MP G.S. Basavaraj is a futile exercise, he said at a press conference here on Sunday.
“Why only Mr. Puttaswamy, an MLC, has been suspended? …Why no action has been taken against MLAs, including Ministers, who are aligned with Mr. Yeddyurappa? This is a clever act to maintain majority in the Assembly and the legislature party,” Mr. Kharge said. He added that people would not be fooled by such actions of the BJP leadership against dissidents. Mr. Kharge said the BJP government in the State was in minority. The present situation of political uncertainty was having a telling impact on development activities and the administration had come to a standstill, he said.
Defending the decision of the State Congress against moving a no-confidence motion against the government, he said, “When the government is crumbling under its own weight why should we earn bad name by bringing an early end to it.” Asked whether the Governor should intervene and ask the Jagadish Shettar government to prove its strength on the floor of the House, Mr. Kharge said the Governor would take all steps to protect the Constitution.
On the charge levelled by JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy that the Congress was responsible for Mr. Yeddyurappa’s rebellion, Mr. Kharge wondered why the Congress be blamed for the problems in the BJP.
