'Cong attempted to lure Reddys'

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today alleged that BJP ministers from Bellary were approached with allurements to switch over to Congress in an attempt to “break” the B S Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka and “save” the Rosaiah government in Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing a well-attended BJP rally here, she said since the ministers from the district played a key role in formation of the BJP government in Karnataka, attempts were being made to win them over to the Congress with enticements, with the belief that it would lead to the “breaking” of the government. “This attempt was also to save the Andhra Pradesh government which is facing a serious situation at home,” she claimed, without referring to Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late chief minister Y S R Reddy, who had taken out a yatra in defiance of the Congress leadership’s directive.

Swaraj said she wanted to reveal this “truth and secret” as a section of newspapers had been carrying “misinformation” against the Reddy brothers from Bellary — G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunataka Reddy (both of whom are ministers in the Yeddyurappa government) in recent days. Noting that she currently served as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Swaraj said she was making this revelation with full responsibility.

She said she could not reveal the name of the person who made these attempts, saying if she did that it would lead to “lowering of the prestige of a constitutional authority” and a “constitutional controversy”. Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj had demanded the resignation of the Bellary ministers for alleged illegal mining in the state. He had also met President Pratibha Patil and Manmohan Singh and briefed them on alleged illegal mining.

Swaraj said she is ready to tell Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in person “how, where and why” vis-a-vis these attempts. “Not once but twice, the Bellary ministers spurned the allurements,” she claimed, adding, this led to creation of an atmosphere of fear, anxiety and tarnishing targeting them. Swaraj said the prolonged Opposition dharna in the Karnataka legislature last month, which was followed by a ‘padayatra’ by the Congress from Bangalore to Bellary were a result of that. She charged the Congress is not being able to digest the fact it had lost to the BJP in the last Assembly elections.