Bengaluru : In a major embarrassment to the Congress at a time when the party together with the JD(S) is going to form a government in Karnataka, Congress MLA Shivaram Hebber on Monday termed an audio clip released by the party to allege that the BJP offered money and a ministerial berth to him for cross-voting during the trust motion in the assembly as “fake.”
Three audio tapes were released by the Congress in the run up to the floor test. One of the tapes released by the Congress allegedly had a conversation between Hebbar’s wife and BJP leaders, who allegedly offered money and ministerial post to lure him to vote for the BJP.
But while questioning the authenticity of the audio clip, Hebbar denied that his wife ever received any such call. “This is not my wife’s voice and she has not received any such calls. This audio tape is fake. I condemn it,” Hebbar said in a Facebook post.
Earlier, the BJP had rubbished the audio tapes fake. The saffron party had accused the Congress of releasing “fake” audio clips to prevent the BJP from forming the government in Karnataka.
But the Congress, while putting up a brave front, said all the audio tapes are genuine. “Audio clips are genuine, we challenge it to be sent to forensic lab,” Congress leader V S Ugrappa said.
