The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider the Congress’ petition about a statement allegedly made by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in connection with the 17 rebel Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs’ disqualification case, the Hindustan Times reported.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice NV Ramana told Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal that they would look into it the matter. “Please allow us to deliver our judgment,” the court added, underlining that Sibal had covered all the relevant points exhaustively during arguments in the case.

A clip had surfaced online last week, in which Yediyurappa was heard telling party workers that BJP National President Amit Shah “supervised and made all arrangements” for Congress and JD(S) MLAs to resign from the Assembly in July, leading to the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. Yediyurappa had said that since the 17 MLAs who resigned had helped the BJP come to power in Karnataka, the party must stand by them.

On Monday, the Congress had urged the top court to take the audio clip and its transcript as evidence in the case.

However, Yediyurappa on Sunday had claimed that the former MLAs had resigned for their own reasons and the BJP did not have anything to do with it.

Last month, the top court had reserved its judgement on a plea filed by the 17 rebel MLAs challenging their disqualification from the state Assembly after they resigned as legislators in July. The MLAs have urged the Supreme Court to allow them to contest the bye-elections.

The HD Kumaraswamy-led Karnataka government collapsed in July following a trust vote in the Assembly, which the ruling coalition lost 99-105. The rebel MLAs, many of whom were holed up in a hotel in Mumbai, did not participate in the trust vote. Yediyurappa was sworn in as the chief minister a few days later.

Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.