New drama will play out at Freedom Park today with the former CM starting an indefinite hunger strike urging for a CBI probe into allegations made against him by Yeddyurappa.
New drama will play out at Freedom Park today with the former CM starting an indefinite hunger strike urging for a CBI probe into allegations made against him by Yeddyurappa.The long drawn farcical face-off between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and former CM H D Kumaraswamy is all but fading into a distant memory, but a new drama is finding a setting at the Freedom Park. The indefinite hunger strike threatened by Kumaraswamy is set to begin today and the irony about it is that Kumaraswamy is urging for a CBI probe on corruption charges against none other than himself.
Not here: Kumaraswamy sought permission to begin his hunger strike
at the Vidhana Soudha premises, but his request was shot down by
(inset) Yeddyurappa. Pic/Ramesh HSTaking a page from Anna Hazare's book, Kumaraswamy has called upon party workers to strike in the true Gandhian style, and the JD(S) will observe fast in the district centers across the state.
Tit-for-tatAfter the former CM uncovered irregularities in Delhi related to Yeddyurappa's family members acquiring a cement factory last month, the CM urged his party leaders release a charge sheet against Kumaraswamy and his father H D Deve Gowda, as a tit for tat.
While the scams mentioned in the charge sheet are all older, Kumaraswamy dared Yeddyurappa to have a CBI investigation to prove the charges. The catch is that if a CBI probe is ordered on the charges against Kumaraswamy, the opposition parties will demand the same thing for the corruption charges linking to Yeddyurappa and his family members.
Apparently stunned by Kumaraswamy's second checkmate after the Dharmasthala swearing challenge, a belligerent Yeddyurappa is running short of ideas. He said, "There is no question of calling for a CBI probe. We have found some irregularities committed by the Gowda family and they will be probed by the respective departments at the state level. I don't see any need of a CBI investigation."
'CM is lying'"I don't understand why the chief minister is hesitating to go for a CBI probe after leveling charges against me. The funniest thing is that I had to launch a hunger strike demanding a probe against none other than myself. This shows that Yeddyurappa is lying," he added.
Kumaraswamy sought permission to begin his hunger strike at the Vidhana Soudha premises, but his request was shot down by Yeddyurappa. After being pacified by senior police officers, the former CM agreed to settle for Freedom Park. The venue where central jail was located earlier has become the Jantar-Mantar of the city with followers of Hazare and Baba Ramdev staging hunger strikes to show solidarity to their respective leaders when they were striking.
