MYSURU: Amid the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Thursday stressed the need for a strong anti-defection law “to save democracy”. Addressing the media here, the former chief minister lashed out at the BJP for indulging in ‘Operation Kamala’ to lure Opposition legislators to topple governments.
“The BJP managed to come to power using Operation Lotus in Karnataka and in several other states across the country. The party uses corruption money to purchase MLAs that are against democracy,” he said. The Badami MLA also hit out at the Union Government for misusing Central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, to scare the Opposition legislators in Maharashtra.
“Operation Lotus was started by BJP and by BS Yediyurappa as they did not get the absolute majority to form the government here,” he said, advocating for a stringent anti-defection law that would bar MLAs switching sides from contesting polls for 10 years. On BJP announcing the name of former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu as the NDA’s presidential pick, Siddaramaiah said it was not social justice.
“It is nothing special as she had already served as BJP district president, MLA, and Governor in the past. If they are truly committed to social justice, they should make her the RSS chief in place of Mohan Bhagwat,” Siddaramaiah said.
Referring to PM Modi’s Karnataka visit, Siddaramaiah said, “The BJP leaders here know that Modi would not do anything good to Karnataka....hence they did not submit any memorandums to the PM.” “The only solace is that a few roads in Bengaluru got a fresh coat of tar,” he quipped.