Shah, Modi are behind political crisis in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah

Congress leader Siddaramaiah alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are offering money and even threatening Congress MLAs in Karnataka.

Perturbed by the ruckus allegedly created by the BJP leaders outside Minister KG George's office in Vidhana Soudha, where he was holding a meeting with Congress MLA Dr K Sudhakar, Siddaramaiah said that BJP leaders are 'gundas' and 'rowdies'. Sudhakar tendered his resignation today.

"They have nothing to do with Sudhakar, he is neither BJP MLA nor BJP worker. As long as his resignation is not accepted he is a member of Congress party. As a Congress Legislative Party leader, I was talking to him but BJP people resorted to rowdy behaviour. They have taken law into their own hands. They are 'gundas', BJP leaders are real 'gundas," said Siddaramaiah

"It is quite evident that Amit Shah and Narendra Modi are behind all things and they are defecting our MLAs by offering money, using power and position, threatening them by using Income Tax, ED, CBI. This is the murder of democracy. BJP is anti-democratic, anti-constitutional and anti-system," said Siddaramaiah.

Earlier in the day, while seeking an appointment to meet Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to brief him about the ongoing political crisis, Siddaramaiah said that the constitutional head belongs to the "whole state", yet Congress is not allowed to meet him.

On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah had said that his party would seek the disqualification of the rebel legislators for their alleged anti-party activities.

After the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting, the party also urged Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to ban these MLAs, who have "colluded" with the BJP, from contesting elections for at least six years.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister also claimed that it was the BJP's sixth attempt to "destabilise" the state government in the last 13 months.