After swear words, Karnataka politicians swear by God
By IANSSunday, January 17, 2010
BANGALORE - After hurling swear words, Karnataka politicians are now ready to swear by the gods to prove their honesty in the face of charges of corruption, irregularity and amassing land.
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa says he is ready to swear by any god his predecessor and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy names to prove false the latter’s charge of him taking bribe to appoint Bharat Lal Meena, an Indian Administrative Service officer, as commissioner of the Bangalore civic body.
“If he believes in the gods, I will swear by those gods to prove the allegations false,” Yeddyurappa said Sunday.
Kumaraswamy made the startling claim Saturday after the civic body, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (Greater Bangalore City Corporation) worked an entire night to finalise contracts for Rs.3,400 crore (Rs.34 billion)-worth civic works in Bangalore.
Opposition Congress and JD-S allege that the Bharatiya Janata Party government finalised the contracts in a hurry to extract money from those who get the contract and use the amount to buy BBMP voters.
Kumaraswamy also wants to swear by God to disprove allegations by senior BJP leader V. Dhananjaya Kumar Saturday that his father and JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda was opposing the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) because his family owned 4,000 acres of land along the corridor.
Kumar charged the lands were ‘benami’ and Gowda’s opposition to BMIC was to protect his lands. “Let Gowda swear by his wife and children that his family does not own any land along the BMIC,” he challenged.
“Our family does not own any land in the BMIC area. Let Dhananjaya Kumar prove it. I am willing to swear by any god,” Kumaraswamy responded.
Gowda had called Yeddyurappa ‘bloody b……’ last Sunday while participating in an agitation against BMIC on the outskirts of Bangalore. He later apologized.
The BMIC consists of a 111-km expressway between Bangalore and Mysore, five townships, a corporate centre and other facilities along the expressway.
