MANGALURU:  In a fresh allegation against the BJP, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the BJP had contacted one of the MLAs in the state’s coalition government on Saturday morning, luring him to join the saffron party. “Despite the cat being let out of the bag, BS Yeddyurappa has not mended his ways and is continuing Operation Lotus in a bid to topple the coalition government,” the CM said while talking to media persons on the sidelines of the Mahamasthabhisheka programme at Dharmasthala. 

He added that these efforts by the BJP were futile and his government was stable. On the Rs 25 crore bribe allegation made by Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali, Kumaraswamy said either the state BJP or the Union government could play the video footage against him, and he was ready to face it. 

He said the incident pertains to Bijapur incumbent MLA Vijugouda Patil, once a confidant of Kumaraswamy who later shifted allegiance to the BJP. The CM said the video footage the BJP is talking about was old, and of the time when Patil was an MLC candidate. He said he had spoken to Patil in the presence of at least 50 supporters and it was not a closed-door meet, adding he did not seek money during the discussion.