New Delhi, Dec 1: A reported remark against senior party leader Sushma Swaraj attributed to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has caused bad blood between the two, forcing him to issue a statement today to rubbish the report.
Yeddyurappa, who was in the capital to pay "courtesy" calls on senior Central leaders, met Swaraj in her Parliament office along with eight BJP MPs from Karnataka.
Sources said Swaraj strongly conveyed her unhappiness to Yeddyurappa at the reported remarks which a Bangalore daily claimed were made during his meetings with BJP President Nitin Gadkari and senior leader Arun Jaitley last week.
She is understood to have questioned why he made a remark that she and other leaders should also be subjected to the "rigorous test of honesty" as was being done in his case.
When confronted by Swaraj, Yeddyurappa was on the backfoot and promised to inquire into the matter. Swaraj wanted legal action to be initiated against the newspaper, the sources said.
Later, Yeddyurappa issued a statement rubbishing the newspaper report of November 24.
"I am rudely shocked and deeply hurt to read the contents of the news.... I totally deny and disassociate myself from the references made to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and my all India leaders," Yeddyurappa said, referring to the report that appeared on November 24.
Taking "serious note" of the report, he expressed "deepest regrets" and promised to hold an inquiry "as to the origin of such news and find out the person behind creating such news".
He insisted that he has "the highest regards and respect for Swaraj and I never mean any such matters and will never think so in the worst of my dreams."
BJP MPs from Karnataka, including Sadanand Gowda and DB Chandregowda, had met Swaraj yesterday also to assuage her feelings in regard to this report. However, Yeddyurappa had to come here personally to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa and his associates maintained that he was here to pay a courtesy call on senior leaders, whom he could not meet on November 24 as he left in haste after the Central leadership allowed him to continue in office despite charges of illegal land allotments against him.
Today, Yeddyurappa met senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Bal Apte, Arun Jaitley, and RSS leader Madan Das Devi. PTI
