Bengaluru: BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal has accused Karnataka state president, B.Y. Vijayendra of being the brain behind the distribution of pen drives, containing obscene videos of Prajwal Revanna ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Vijayapura legislator alleged that it was the BJP state president who ordered the release of the pen drives against Prajwal, the former MP of Hassan and grandson of former prime minister H.D.Deve Gowda.
“On the directions of Vijayendra, pen drives were distributed. If Vijayendra has the guts, let him answer me. How many people did he distribute the pen drive to?” Yatnal told reporters Saturday.
Prajwal Revanna, who is currently lodged in Parappana Agrahara jail, faces four separate cases. He had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan parliamentary constituency in the recent polls.
Yatnal further alleged that several of the BJP office bearers were holding on to ‘CDs’ (obscene videos of important persons) and used it to blackmail its own MLAs.
The allegations against Vijayendra threaten to boil over simmering dissent within the BJP in Karnataka which has been on the edge ever since Yediyurappa’s younger son was named as the state chief, overlooking several other seniors, including Yatnal.
Yatnal, BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi and a few others have now become the face of this resistance against the Yediyurappa family.
A known Yediyurappa baiter, Yatnal even criticised the father-son duo of indulging in widespread corruption and carrying out a padayatra against others, daring the party high command to take action against them.
“Yediyurappa should not come to any platform of any party. He has serious allegations against him and it’s (cases) are before the court. The party should instruct him (Yediyurappa) not to come on to any platform as he has no moral right. He gives speeches that Siddaramaiah should immediately resign. You and your son too have scams. I will ask the high command if they will protect scamsters or take action against them,” the former Union minister said.
The BJP and its alliance partner, the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S), are currently taking out a 140 km padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru, intensifying demands that CM Siddaramaiah should resign for his role in “corruption”.
Siddaramaiah has been accused of diverting Rs 90 crore from the state-run Valmiki Development Corporation as well as getting 14 plots of land allotted to himself from the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Yatnal alleged that Karnataka Congress state chief D.K.Shivakumar was behind the diversion of funds from Valmiki corporation and that the money was sent to (Rahul Gandhi’s constituency) Rae Bareli as well as to fund other election expenses in Karnataka.
He dared Siddaramaiah to order a probe against all the allegations against Vijayendra, including hiking prices of essential medicines during the Covid and signing documents to clear files.
Yediyurappa’s sole aim was to project Vijayendra as championing the padayatra so that he can then make him the Karnataka chief minister as well as install him as the leader of the Lingayat community.
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that Yatnal knows many things about Vijayendra and Yediyurappa.”
“He has no confidence in them. He has only said that Vijayendra and Yediyurappa have no moral right to speak about corruption. I agree with this. I do not want to comment on his other statements,” Rao told reporters Sunday.
Dubbing the BJP state president as the “king of corruption,” he added that during Yediyurappa’s rein as CM, all BJP ministers knew about the irregularities and that it was Vijayendra who was clearing files.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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