Kumaraswamy claims his father Gowda was offered bribe

Amid the raging storm over bribery charges in defence procurement, former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday claimed his father H D Deve Gowda was offered bribe by middlemen involved in defence deals when he was the prime minister.

"The middleman had approached me and my father with an offer of bribe to strike a defence deal... This when my father was prime minister in 1996," he told reporters in Bangalore.

Kumaraswamy, however, did not provide any evidence to support his claim that adds grist to the current controversy fuelled by Army Chief General V K Singh's claim that he was offered Rs 14 crore kickback in a substandard defence deal.

Asked why he was sharing the details after 16 years, Kumaraswamy said the army chief's revelations had prompted him to do so.