Swear you didn't pay for RS win, Revanna asks Ramamurthy

JD(S) leader H D Revanna on Tuesday denied he had taken money during the recent Rajya Sabha elections and said he was ready to swear before God.

“I have not taken a single paise from anybody. I am ready to swear before Lord Manjunatha or Goddess Chamundeshwari if they (the party rebels) wish,” he told reporters when his reaction was sought to the charges made by rebel JD(S) MLAs.

Revanna, who is the son of JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda, in turn, sought to know whether Congress’ K C Ramamurthy will swear before God.

“Let Ramamurthy swear before God that he has not paid money in the recently-held Rajya Sabha polls. Do you think he got the support of 52 MLAs because he was a good police officer? Has Sonia Gandhi (Congress president) made them MPs for nothing?” he asked.

Ramamurthy was elected as a Rajya Sabha member with the support of JD(S) rebels and independent MLAs.

On another charge by the rebels that Revanna and Gowda were responsible for the downfall of the JD(S), he claimed that he never interfered in party affairs and confined himself to Holenarsipur. He avoided a direct reply to a question as to why party rebels were targetting only him and Deve Gowda and not Kumaraswamy.

He denied he was jealous of his brother Kumaraswamy’s growth in politics and claimed he had always obeyed his father and brother as far as the party was concerned.

On his close proximity to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Revanna said he had approached the chief minister for the development of his constituency but not for seeking personal favours.

“I will quit politics if the chief minister can prove that I have taken any personal favour from him,” he added.

He said he had felt bad when Siddaramaiah lost the race to the chief minister’s post to J H Patel in 1996.

He also said he was very happy when Siddaramaiah became the chief minister after joining the Congress.