A recent comment by BJP leader and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa loyalist M.D. Lakshminarayana that Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda had pumped in Rs 60 crore during the by-elections to get the BJP legislators lured from other parties under Operation Lotus elected has resulted in a PIL before the high court. The petition has sought an inquiry into the alleged scam.
The 58-year-old Shankar Munavalli, a resident of Belgaum, has filed the PIL seeking court directions for investigation into the allegation that Mr Gowda spent Rs 5 crore each to lure a dozen opposition MLAs to join the BJP under ‘Operation Lotus’ and allegedly pumped in another Rs 60 crore to help the BJP win the BBMP election.
The petitioner has made central home affairs department, election commission, CBI, Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation Chairman M.D. Lakshminarayana, MLA B. Sreeramulu, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, CM Sadananda Gowda, BJP president Eshwarappa and jailed mining baron and former minister Janardhan Reddy as respondents. The petitioner prays that the court should restrain the MLAs, who joined the BJP and were elected in the recent by-polls, from voting in the forthcoming Legislative Council elections.