CM change speculation: Pralhad Joshi alleges 'horse trading' in ruling Cong

With a Congress MLA claiming that the BJP was planning to topple the government in Karnataka and has prepared a list to target 55 legislators through central agencies, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday hit back, alleging that "horse trading" was on in the ruling party itself, amid CM change speculation.

- NT Correspondent

Congress MLA from Hungund Vijayanand Kashappanavar on Saturday accused that the BJP has prepared a list of 55 Congress MLAs to threaten them with ED or CBI raids, if they don't join the saffron party.

Reacting to Kashappanavar's claims, Joshi said, "Has he (Kashappanavar) done anything (wrong) to come on the ED list? Those who have done wrong will come under ED's notice, not others. Those who are correct need not worry and they won't face any trouble. This claim about 55 MLAs is a conspiracy to divert issues."

Speaking to reporters here, he claimed that CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar had begun horse trading within the Congress MLAs to garner support.

"Siddaramaiah had recently said that Shivakumar doesn't have the support of many MLAs, so both of them, to garner support on their respective sides, are using their money power.

Both of them who are ready to buy MLAs are strong there (in Congress), so there is no chance for us (BJP) to enter and we don't want to indulge in such things," Joshi said.