Karnataka's Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna shocked everyone on Thursday by announcing that 48 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the state had been victims of honey-trapping. He also confessed that an attempt was made to trap him too and asked the state police to conduct a proper probe into the incident.
Rajanna's remarks were made after a statement by BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal, who accused in the legislative assembly that some people were honey-trapping the state's legislators with an aim to become the Chief Minister. In his reply, Rajanna said that everybody now thinks that "Karnataka has become a factory for CDs and pen drives."
When the Opposition benches responded by proposing that "two factories" were at work, Rajanna replied, "Is there one on your side and one on ours? If you disclose who operates your factory, we can also reveal who works ours." He demanded a special inquiry to find out the "producers and directors" of the honey-trapping racket.
Rajanna added, "48 MLAs' pen drives have been targeted. They are not limited to party in power alone but also encompass members of Opposition parties. The problem is not limited to the leaders of states; even country's party leaders have been attacked. It's a serious problem.
The minister also requested Home Minister G Parameshwara to take action on the complaint he would be filing soon, claiming that he had proof of an attempt to honey-trap him personally.
Parameshwara, who was in the session, reacted by promising that the government would order a high-level investigation into the allegations. This was just a day after BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar had called for an investigation into reports of honey-trapping of some state leaders, including ministers. Kumar said that such issues needed to be addressed, as they marred the credibility of elected representatives. Leaders on both treasury and Opposition benches deplored the alleged incidents, with Urban Development Minister Byrati Suresh demanding stringent action against such offenses.
The honey-trapping claims arose in the background of a fight for power within two groups of the Congress. Sources had mentioned that Rajanna, who recently returned to Delhi, had lodged his complaint with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge after strong speculations that he and his son had been honey-trapped.
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