Stepping up their attack on Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa over a video containing his purported remarks on resignation of Congress and JD-S MLAs, Karnataka Congress leaders on Saturday demanded his resignation and also gave a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai Vala seeking dismissal of the BJP government in the state.
The party also demanded resignation of BJP chief and union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, the Chief Minister rejected demands for resignation.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that Yediyurappa has no right to continue in the office.
"We are demanding his resignation because whatever Yediyurappa and Amit Shah are doing is a conspiracy to murder democracy and constitution. He has no right to continue in the office," he said.
Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao alleged that the BJP's central leadership was involved in toppling the coalition government of BJP and JD-S.
"This is another expose on the allegation that we have been making. What more proof do we need?" he said.Rao said Shah has no moral right to continue as the Home Minister and should resign immediately. "We are filing this evidence in the Supreme Court," he said.
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Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee also submitted a memorandum to President Kovind through the state Governor demanding dismissal of Yediyurappa government and removal of Amit Shah from the council of ministers.
The memorandum accused Yediyurappa and Shah of bringing down coalition government in Karnataka. A pen-drive of purported video of Yediyurappa was also enclosed.
The chief minister dismissed demands for resignation made by Siddaramaiah and Gundu Rao.
"It is foolishness. As an opposition leader, he does not know what he is speaking. Why should Amit Shah resign? They (rebel MLAs) were in Mumbai for two-and-a-half-months, how is he responsible? It shows that he, being in the Opposition, wants to take advantage of it (the situation), " Yediyurappa told ANI.
"I have told workers not to speak all nonsense in the meeting. They have resigned for their reasons. Let us wait for Supreme Court's decision and in the meantime, let us not speak anything on the MLAs," he added.
In the video that has surfaced, Yediyurappa purportedly says that the decision of the 17 JD-S and Congress MLAs to resign, which led to the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy-led government in July, was taken by the central leadership of the BJP and that the party workers should honour the "sacrifice" of the rebel MLAs.
The party's memorandum said that BJP government in Karnataka should be dismissed "in the interest of democracy".
Siddaramaiah alleged that the "defection was done on instructions" of Shah.
"One is Chief Minister and one is Union Home Minister. Both tried to topple the constitution. We met the Governor and requested him to dismiss the Karnataka Government, bring this to the notice of President Ram Nath Kovind and also take appropriate action against Amit Shah," he said.
Yediyurappa took oath as Chief Minister in July this year after the coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy failed to win the trust vote after 17 MLAs of Congress and JD-S resigned. The MLAs were disqualified in July by then Karnataka Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar and were barred from contesting polls for the duration of the assembly which ends in 2023.
The Supreme Court last month reserved its verdict on petitions of 15 Karnataka MLAs challenging their disqualification by the state Assembly Speaker ahead of a floor test in June this year.
The Election Commission had earlier deferred the assembly bypolls in Karnataka to December 5 as the case pertaining to the disqualification of MLAs was pending in the Supreme Court.