Siddaramaiah & CM Yediyurappa spar over alleged Operation Kamala tape

Siddaramaiah lambasted Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa over his allegations against the Congress party. BJP's Yediyurappa accused the Congress party of 'twisting' his statement in the purported tape-recorded conversation. 

Speaking to media persons, Siddaramaiah said, "Were we present in the core committee meeting of the BJP? Were any of our leaders present in their meeting? This was a core committee meeting for selecting their candidates for the upcoming polls." "Here, an elected government has been pulled down. Is it not so? When those 17 MLAs defected and gave their resignation, the govt fell," Siddaramaiah added.

Responding to the tape released by Congress alleging Yediyurappa talking about  'Operation Kamala' on Friday, the chief minister of Karnataka said, "We don't have anything to do with the 17 disqualified MLAs."

He had even slammed the Congress for alleging BJP president Amit Shah's role in the mass defection, the Karnataka chief minister had said that the Congress with distorting his statement in a leaked audio clipping on rebel MLAs. Yediyurappa said those who resigned (disqualified MLAs) had done so for their own reasons and the party did not have anything to do with it. Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister denied having said that he would give tickets to those who resigned. He said matters were being unnecessarily distorted "to create confusion in the Supreme Court".

READ| Karnataka minister: Rebel MLAs, the reason behind BJP govt formation

Congress alleges 'Operation Kamala'

Earlier on Friday, the Congress party released a tape alleging that Karnataka CM and BJP chief BS Yediyurappa is admitting about Operation Kamala. The videotape of the BJP leader was pertaining to the mass resignations of MLAs, which subsequently led to the felling of Congress-JD(S) government from the state. 

Taking to Twitter, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief Dinesh Gundu Rao alleged that BJP led the "immoral defection of Congress MLA". He claimed that the tape is a proof that Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah took care of the defected MLA for 2.5 months.

READ| HD Gowda demands case against K'taka CM Yediyurappa over alleged video

@bsybjp again confesses about operation Kamala & the immoral defection of @INCIndia MLA’s.

He also clearly reveals that @AmitShah took care of the defectors for 2.5 months in Mumbai.

What more damning proof required that @BJP4India masterminded this entire operation. pic.twitter.com/Oi1PrbdsSN

— ದಿನೇಶ್ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್/ Dinesh Gundu Rao (@dineshgrao)

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