Bengaluru, Jan 4: Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa has declared he would take action against the MLAs reportedly involved in the cash-for-vote scam provided he received evidence.
The speaker said accepting bribe to vote went against the principles of democracy and urged political parties to nominate journalists, intellectuals, achievers in various fields and honest workers to the Rajya Sabha.
Referring to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, he said, “We all know how Mallya discharged his duties as a member of the Rajya Sabha.” In the changed circumstances, industrialists and affluent people are keen to become members of the Rajya Sabha and political parties are eager to nominate such people, leading to cash-for-vote incidents, he said.
CBI probe
Meanwhile, the JD(S) demanded that the entire sting incident be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). While JD(S)?leader H?D?Revanna demanded a CBI probe, his father and former prime minister H?D?Deve Gowda alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was behind the incident.
Gowda said it was a conspiracy hatched to “finish off” his party. Gowda said he could not rule out the involvement of two MLAs from his own party, Zameer Ahmed Khan and N?Chaluvarayaswamy (both whom have fallen out with the JD-S), in the conspiracy. JD(S)?spokesperson Ramesh Babu said the Election Commission of India should immediately postpone the polls and order an inquiry. Two of the legislators shown in the sting operation are from the JD(S) – G?T?Deve Gowda and Mallikarjun Khuba.
Speaking to reporters in Kalaburagi, BJP state president B?S?Yeddyurappa alleged that it was the Congress which was trying to buy votes from MLAs. “More skeletons in the Congress's cupboard will tumble out in the coming days,” he said.
Former Deputy Chief Minister R?Ashoka said Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa should take cognisance of the incident and initiate action against the legislators.
Pre-planned?
Former chief minister and JD(S)?state president H?D?Kumaraswamy has termed the sting operation on RS polls “pre-planned.”
Speaking to reporters at Managuli in Vijayapura taluk on Friday, Kumaraswamy said that the episode had come to light only after the meeting between legislator Zameer Ahmed and Digvijaya Singh, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka.
“ We had written to the Election Commission of India last week itself about possibilities of malpractice in the elections. But, the incident has come to light now. There are chances of the ECI deferring the elections, considering the issue seriously,” he said, adding that all the MLAs of the party were taken into confidence while writing to the ECI.
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