Karnataka polls: Cong releases 'bribe' videos of Sriramulu, BJP calls it fake
Bengaluru: Just two days ahead of the crucial Karnataka Assembly elections, the Congress on Thursday released two videos dating back to 2010 where BJP leaders B Sriramulu and G Janardhana Reddy were purportedly involved in negotiating a bribe with the son-in-law of a former Chief Justice of India, allegedly to influence a verdict in their favour in an illegal mining case involving the Reddy brothers.
The videos appeared on a local television channel and were later released in the office of the Karnataka Congress by state working president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy. Later, state electoral authorities directed channels not to air the videos.
"Will the BJP withdraw these candidates?… The PM needs to respond," said Rao. Ramalinga Reddy called it "an example of the way the BJP ran the government from 2008 to 2013."
Speaking to reporters on Thursday BJP president Amit Shah said, "The video is fake, don't believe it."
Thursday was the last day of campaigning in the poll-bound state.
One video, time-stamped at July 1, 2001, shows five people — including a man purported to be linked to Sriranjan. The second video, its time-stamp unclear, records a conversation in Telugu among three people, one of whom is not visible. One person is purportedly Sriramulu; another resembles one of the five in the first video and is referred to as Captain Reddy.
Talking to the media, the Congress alleged that the video shot in 2010 showed Sriramulu and four "middlemen" discussing "bribe deals" with the then chief justice K G Balakrishnan's son-in-law Sriranjan in a case involving the Obulapuram Mining Company owned by Janardhana Reddy.
The BJP has fielded Sriramulu, a close aide of Janardhana Reddy, from the Badami constituency against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress.
The Congress alleges that Sriramulu offered crores as bribe to get a favourable order in a case against Janardhan Reddy, who is accused of illegal mining on the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border.
The Andhra Pradesh government had in 2009 banned Janardhana Reddy's company from operating its mines in Anantpur. Three months later in February 2010, the high court cancelled the order, after which the Karnataka government moved the Supreme Court.
On May 10, 2010, the apex court ruled in favour of the Reddys. The next day, Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan retired.
Janardhana Reddy, who was made a minister after the BJP government came to power in Karnataka in 2008, had to quit after a report by the Lokayukta indicted him. He was later arrested by the CBI in 2011.
The Congress questions why the Supreme Court allowed his company to continue mining, despite a survey it had ordered recommending the opposite.
The party alleges that a series of meetings was held between January and May 2010 in which bribes of about Rs 500 crore was discussed and "Rs 100 crore was paid" to a judge.
It's not clear who filmed the video but the Congress claims it was shot "because of non-settlement of the bribe amount".
Talking to NDTV Sriranjan rubbished the allegations and said, "The allegation is purely political. Why has the Congress waited so long, they could have acted when they were in power.”
The Congress has been targeting the BJP for giving tickets to two brothers of Janardhana Reddy, who is out on bail and has been barred by court from entering Bellary.
Dismissing the claims of Amit Shah that the video is doctored, the Congress has demanded a thorough probe.
"How does he (Amit Shah) know that the video is fake? Is he a forensic expert?" said Dinesh Gundu Rao, the working president of Karnataka Congress.
