The state Congress on Wednesday mounted an attack on the BJP soon after its Rajya Sabha member K C Ramamurthy resigned.
“The BJP has made it an industry to lure leaders by blackmailing them and creating fear,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao said. “They’re doing this to everyone - industrialists, media, officials - and a lot of people are becoming victims. What can we do? Nothing.”
Asked about the possibility of Ramamurthy joining BJP, Rao said: “He's free to join BJP if he wants to.”
Visuals of AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal hobnobbing with history sheeter Ishtiaq Ahmed surfaced on Wednesday.
Apparently, Ahmed met Venugopal at the party’s headquarters on Tuesday and urged him to field MLC Rizwan Arshad for the Shivajinagar bypolls. Arshad was present as well.
Recently, Ahmed was arrested for allegedly receiving Rs 2 crore from I Monetary Advisory founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who is accused in a multi-crore fraud.
“A lot of people meet Venugopal,” Rao said, seeking to play this down. “His wife is a councillor and is a part of several party meetings. But then, why isn’t anyone talking about those associated with the BJP who are involved in the IMA scam?”