In an embarrassment to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s party, the Janata Dal (Secular), two of the party MLAs were allegedly caught in a sting operation by a private television channel, negotiating for rates upward of Rs. 5 crore in exchange for their votes in the elections to Rajya Sabha seats from the State.

In all, four Karnataka legislators were shown discussing money being paid in the elections, to be held on June 11, in the sting broadcast by India Today Television.

While the Congress has two assured seats and the BJP one, it is for the fourth seat, for which the JD(S) and the Congress have fielded candidates, that most of the negotiations were shown as taking place.

The two JD(S) legislators, Mallikarjun Khuba (Basavakalyana) and G.T. Deve Gowda (Chamundeshwari), were shown negotiating for rates upwards of Rs. 5 crore for their vote.

Two other legislators ‘caught on tape’ were B.R. Patil (Aland) from KJP and Varthur Prakash (Kolar), an Independent.