An audio clip where Karnataka BJP MLC C P Yogeeshwar purportedly says that Union minister Amit Shah practises a “sort of rowdyism” to protect the party’s interests and that the saffron party would go for an “Operation Lotus” before the upcoming Assembly polls has gone viral.
Though Yogeeshwar has denied that it is his voice and alleged that the clip was a fabricated one, it provided enough fodder for the Opposition parties to target the BJP.
In the last of the three audio clips, Yogeeshwar is purportedly heard saying that Shah had forbidden everyone from entering into agreements with leaders from Opposition parties. “(He said) it was akin to betraying one’s mother. He said it in a very bad way. Amit Shah’s is a sort of rowdyism,” he said.
In the audio, the man alleged to be Yogeeshwar further says that while the Union home minister speaks a different language in a public rally, he uses expletives to scream at party leaders in private. “What he meant was, he would not tolerate anyone who has an understanding with other parties.”
In the video, Yogeeshwar is purportedly heard saying that Shah held a three-hour-long meeting and told BJP leaders that he was aware of those who had an understanding with other parties.
During the same conversation, sources said, the former minister apparently predicted a poor performance by the JD(S) in the coming polls and claimed that several Congress leaders from the old Mysuru region would join the BJP.
While JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy dismissed the claims made in the audio as the “ramblings of a joker”, the Congress said the statements reflected “the fact” that BJP was a party of rowdy elements.
“BJP leaders know the true behaviour of the imaginary ‘Election Chanakya’. Rowdy behaviour is normal for those who were imprisoned over criminal cases. When leaders themselves are rowdies, it is normal that rowdies join the party,” the party tweeted.
