Saying that he was quitting happily without anxiety, outgoing Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday cautioned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa that political instability would haunt him as reverse political defections were bound to begin soon.

“The BJP leaders are in a tearing hurry to capture power after effecting political defections from the coalition. But let’s see what happens after a week. I’m sure you [Mr. Yeddyurappa] will see bombs dropping soon after you form your ministry,” Mr. Kumaraswamy remarked minutes before the confidence motion was put to vote.

Declaring that his party would not entertain its rebels if they want to return, Mr. Kumaraswamy felt that it would be better to face midterm polls as the BJP had vitiated political environment. “You look anxious, but I’m not. In fact, I’m very happy,” Mr. Kumaraswamy taunted Mr. Yeddyurappa. “Yes, I had wept when I had to quit during my earlier stint as Chief Minister, but not now.”

I-T raids

Recalling how Income Tax raids had taken place on various non-BJP leaders in Karnataka just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Kumaraswamy wondered why the I-T was keeping quiet now though hundreds of crores of rupees were allegedly changing hands while effecting defections. He also accused the BJP of trying to misuse the ongoing inquiry into the IMA scam to pressurise an MLA, who allegedly has a link to the scam, to toe its line.

Seeking to set the record straight on the flagship programme of farm loan waiver, he reeled out statistics on the status of its implementation. He said ₹25,000 crore had been earmarked so far. He also touched upon all the major programmes taken up by his government.

Launching a counter attack on the BJP central leadership, which has been accusing his government of showing slack response towards the Centre’s Kisan Samman programme, Mr. Kumaraswamy said though the names and details of 35 lakh eligible beneficiaries had been uploaded on the Centre’s website, benefits had been given to only 15 lakh persons so far by the Union government.

CM refutes rebels’ claims of paucity of funds

Debunking claims of the rebel MLAs that neglect of their constituencies was the main reason for them to tender resignations, outgoing Chief Minister H.D. Kumarsawamy on Tuesday furnished details to the Legislative Assembly on how the rebels had actually received a huge quantum of funds for development of their segments. As per the statistics revealed by him, all the rebels have got more than ₹100 crore for their constituency in the last one year, while some of them have even received more than ₹500 crore.

Mr. Kumaraswamy stated that Ramesh Jarkiholi, who began the episode of rebellion, had received ₹262 crore, while Munirathna had been given ₹559 crore and Byrathi Basavaraj ₹332 crore. Pratapgouda Patil had got ₹517 crore, while K.R. Pet MLA Narayana Gowda, who had been lamenting about lack of funds, had actually been given ₹474 crore, he said.

He particularly chose JD (S) former president and rebel MLA A. H. Vishwanath for attack by saying that he was pained over the veteran’s remarks that his government had indulged in demonic politics. Similarly, he alleged that another JD (S) rebel Gopalaiah wanted him to protect his brother who was allegedly involved in a murder.