As the political drama unfolds in Karnataka impacting the very existence of Congress-JDS coalition government, Congress-JDS leaders have been firing their guns at BJP leaders for allegedly trying to destabilise the HD Kumaraswamy led government.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara had insinuated the role of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar in flying out the ten dissident MLAs of the Congress and the JDS from Bengaluru to Mumbai in one of the chartered planes belongs to a company associated to him.
On July 6, the Congress-JDS coalition was pushed to the edge after 13 Congress and JD(S) MLAs submitted their resignations to bring its number to 105, on par with the BJP, in the 224-member Assembly. Soon after resigning from their respective political parties, the rebel MLAs had left for Mumbai in a chartered flight.
However, the plane belongs to Jupiter Capital Private Limited. Rajeev Chandrasekhar is the founder and chairman of the company.
Citing this, Deputy CM Parameshwara had tweeted that it was disgraceful that the BJP was attempting to topple a democratically elected govt and grab power through the backdoor.
https://twitter.com/DrParameshwara/status/1148095942387572736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In response to Deputy CM Parameshwara’s allegation, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar has hit back at the senior Congress leader stating that the aircraft was a commercial charter flight that has been used to charter many people including Congress ministers in the last.
He further stated that he should not blame the aircraft or the BJP for the problems that have been created within the “crooked corrupt opportunistic alliance”.
https://twitter.com/rajeev_mp/status/1148131114827096064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The company had itself admitted that the aircraft that ferried the MLAs belonged to Jupiter Capital. The company officials had also clarified that they were running a business and whoever wanted to use the plane could do so. “It is a charter operation and the aircraft is chartered regularly by various people,” a top official of the company had said.
Earlier in the day, 22 Congress ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Parameshwara and senior Congress leader DK Shivkumar resigned from their respective ministries to accommodate the rebel MLAs in the cabinet. In a big jolt to the Congress-JDS coalition, independent MLA Nagesh also resigned from the cabinet pushing the number of MLAs supporting the coalition further down.