48 Karnataka MLAs honey trapped, attempt to target me as well: Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna

With the Opposition benches claiming that “two factories” were in operation, Rajanna said, “Is there one on your side and one on ours? If you say who runs your factory, we can reveal who runs ours.” He sought a special investigation to reveal “the producers and directors” of the honey-trapping operation.

“Pen drives of 48 MLAs are present. This was not only of the members of the ruling party, but included those from the Opposition too. (Honey-trapping) is not restricted to only state leaders, but leaders from national parties are also victims. This is a menace,” Rajanna said.

Requesting Home Minister G Parameshwara to act on a complaint he would soon file, the minister said that he had evidence to show that there was an attempt to honey-trap him too.

Parameshwara, who was present in the House, responded by stating that the government would order a high-level probe into the allegations.

This came a day after BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar called for an inquiry into rumours that some leaders in the state, including ministers, were honey-trapped. Kumar had called for an inquiry into the rumours saying that such acts denigrated the office of elected representatives. Leaders from both treasury and Opposition benches had condemned the alleged acts and Urban Development Minister Byrati Suresh had called for firm action against these crimes.

The honey-trap allegations also came in the wake of an ongoing power tussle between two factions of the Congress. According to sources, Rajanna – who was in Delhi recently – is said to have complained to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge about the incident following strong speculations that he and his son were honey-trapped.