'Is it possible to save govt by black magic': HDK's dig at BJP

Bengaluru, July 19: Amid heated debated in Karnataka Assembly ahead of the trust vote, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswany on Friday blasted the BJP for making as issue out of Karnataka PWD minister and JDS leader HD Revanna carrying lemon with him to events.

HD Revanna is said to be obsessed with superstition and can usually be seen carrying a lemon in his hand to ward off the evil eye. The BJP leaders have often mocked this and made remarks ridiculing Kumaraswany's brother.

"You blame Revanna of carrying a lemon. You (BJP) believe in Hindu culture,but you blame him.He carries lemon with him and he goes to a temple. But you accuse him of doing black magic. Is it even possible to save a Govt by black magic?" Kumaraswamy said in assembly.

The political drama in the state assembly is heading for a climax as the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka will have to prove majority on the floor of the assembly today. The trust vote was supposed to be held by 1:30pm as per Governor's direction.

BJP Karnataka president B.S. Yeddyurappa had vehementaly protested when the assembly was adjourned yesterday, as he wanted it on Thursday itself.

The trust vote is necessitated by mass resignation of 16 legislators earlier this month that plunged the HD Kumaraswamy-led government into deep turmoil and it has been lurching from one crisis to another since then.

Governor Vajubhai Vala had sent a letter, his second on the trust vote, to Kumaraswamy on Thursday setting a 1.30 pm deadline on Friday to prove his government's majority in the assembly.