BENGALURU: Even as one more bout of dissidence is threatening to erupt in Congress over the delay in cabinet expansion, an audio tape with a purported conversation between the personal assistant of BJP leader Sriramulu and a Dubai-based businessman, to lure dissident Congress MLAs to bring down the coalition government, set off political ripples in the state on Monday.

The person said to be Sriramulu’s personal assistant, is heard boasting that about 25 Congress MLAs are ready to quit their party on the promise of a ministerial berth and Rs 20 cr to Rs 25cr in cash each. The two also talk about having to bear the election expenses of those MLAs who quit their assembly membership and contest on BJP tickets to get re-elected.

The PA takes the names of Congress MLAs Satish Jarkiholi (Yamakanamaradi), minister Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Bheema Naik (Hagari Bommanahalli), Nagendra (Ballari Rural), B C Patil (Hirekerur), Dr Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), Anand Singh (Vijayanagara), JN Ganesh(Kampli), Pratap Gowda Patil (Maski) and Independent MLA Nagesh (Mulbagal), who are said to be in touch with him.

The conversation reflects the urgency to mobilise funds to accomplish the plan before the winter session of the state legislature on December 10. The conversation is about the plan being executed with the backing of BJP leaders BS Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu. Yeddyurappa, who is on a rejuvenation stay at an Ayurvedic retreat centre in Kerala, has not reacted. However, Sriramulu dismissed the audio tape as fake, and a “creation of Congress-JD(S) coalition leaders to malign BJP’s image.”

“My PA doesn’t speak Hindi. How can he converse with a Dubai businessman in Hindi? They can check my PA’s voice sample. The tape is fake and a strategy by coalition partners to save their government. We are not interested in any operation as the government will fall on its own,” Sriramulu said. Dismissing the alleged ‘Operaton Lotus’ as a futile exercise, CM H D Kumaraswamy said that BJP will never succeed in bringing down his government.

No one from BJP contacted me: BC Patil

Sulking Congress MLA BC Patil, whose name figured in the tape, also dismissed it as fake and asserted that no one from the BJP contacted him. “There is no question of anyone claiming to have contacted me to quit the Assembly membership. I am an aspirant for a ministerial berth, but I am not in a mood to quit under any circumstances. This is mischief being played by someone to destabilise the government,” Patil said.

Cabinet expansion before the session

The ripples caused by the audio tape are being seen as the handiwork of someone in the ruling Congress or JD(S) to bring pressure on the party leadership to take up cabinet expansion before the legislative session begins on December 10. The coordination committee meeting scheduled on December 5 is expected to take a decision on the likely date for cabinet expansion, and December 9 could be the date for swearing-in if party head Rahul Gandhi gives the go-ahead, sources said.