The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has alleged that a firm owned by a relative of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna footed the Chennai hotel bills of the 16 disqualified MLAs who had revolted against the B S Yeddyurappa government.
According to documents released by party’s state president K S Eshwarappa, the Amalgamated Bean Coffee (ABC) Trading Company, a firm owned by Krishna’s son-in-law V G Siddhartha, footed the Chennai hotel bills of 16 disqualified BJP MLAs.
Talking to reporters, here, Eshwarappa said this indicated the role of the Congress behind the rebellion launched by rebel MLAs against BJP government. According to the statement issued by a five star hotel in Chennai, the bill of Rs 3.89 lakh was paid in cash.
He asked Congress and JD(S) leaders to accept defeat in the wake of the Karnataka High Court upholding disqualification of 11 rebel BJP MLAs and allow the BJP government to continue.
Eshwarappa claimed he would come out with more proof of opposition parties funding the BJP dissidents in the coming days.
However, ABC, which is based out of Bangalore, refused to comment on the allegations made by the BJP. “Our offices are closed until Monday in view of the long weekend, and none of our representatives is available at this moment,” company sources said. Siddhartha too was not available for comments.
ABC, which has a business of over Rs 750 crore, has pioneered coffee drinking outlets in India, manages over 1,000 Café Coffee Day outlets across the country.
“What is the role of the ABC in this issue? It is interesting to note that the hotel bills of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, who stayed in the same hotel and engineered the rebellion, have also been paid by the ABC,” Karnataka Eshwarappa.
The rebels, including 11 BJP MLAs and five Independents, had camped at the luxurious Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers in Chennai during the second week of October.
“All of us know that ABC’s promoter Siddhartha is S M Krishna’s son-in-law. Do we need more proof of Congress’ involvement in trying to bring down the BJP government?” Eshwarappa remarked.
He alleged that more Union Congress Ministers from Karnataka were behind the political crisis. “The Janata Dal (Secular) came out in the open to support the rebels. But the Congress conspired secretly and its state leaders claimed that they did not support the BJP rebels. Our stand that Congress was part of the conspiracy to destabilise the BJP government is vindicated,” he contended.
The hotel bills list the names of the 16 rebel MLAs, whose disqualification by the Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah, was upheld by the Karnataka High Court on Friday.
