B S Yeddyurappa, Prabhakar Kore ringleaders, says Dinesh Gundurao

Bengaluru: Just hours after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's accusation that an 'underworld' was trying to topple his government, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee launched all round attack on the BJP by not only lodging a complaint with the Income Tax department but also having KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao allege that BJP state president, B.S. Yeddyurappa and BJP Rajya Sabha MP and powerful politician Prabhakar Kore were the ringleaders who are desperately trying to topple the coalition government in the state here on Friday.   

Addressing an urgently convened press conference here, Mr Rao charged, "Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Kore are acting like ring leaders while their party MLAs Satish Reddy, S. R. Vishwanth, Ashwath Narayana and C. P. Yogishwara are their front-men, who have been assigned to lure our party MLAs to their side." Training his guns on Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Kore, the KPCC president took it one step further by saying that if the media wants to know the truth, they can immediately go to Mr Yeddyurappa's house where he has been convening meetings with his pointmen to  keep close watch on this development.

"His pointmen, have already tapped our party MLAs like Anil Chikmadu, C. S. Shivalli, V. Muniyappa and B. C. Patil. They have directly offered crores of rupees to them to cross over to their side. We have the required evidence to prove it," he contended and charged that Mr Yeddyurappa was showing his desperation in attempting to topple this government. "Although, many in BJP do not want to be party to another round of Operation Lotus which gained notoriety in 2008-13 when the BJP was in power in the state,   Mr Rao claimed " our MLAs are way too strong to be lured by them (BJP). They are so strong that even if the BJP offers individual MLAs Rs1000 crore to switch over, they will not shift their loyalty. " 

Citing his deputy KPCC working president, Eshwar Khandre's complaint, Mr Rao stated that the Congress party wants a detailed probe into this entire episode, therefore, the party had filed a complaint with the Income Tax already and could file a fresh complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as well.