‘Blackmailers, bribers have got into Cabinet’

Hours after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced the names of those to be inducted into the Cabinet, he and his party were in for a major embarrassment as two party legislators — Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and A.H. Vishwanath — alleged that some had “blackmailed and bribed” him to find a place in the Ministry. “Three people had come to me with a CD four months ago, at a guest house at Nelamangala, with a plan to make Mr. Yediyurappa step down. I was surprised that the Chief Minister’s grandnephew was also conspiring against him. Two of them have succeeded in joining the Cabinet,” alleged Mr. Yatnal. He, however, refused to disclose the contents of the purported CD.