BJP gave Rs 40-50 cr each to 8 Goa MLAs: Cong
September 15, 2022 22:05
A day
after eight Congress MLAs in Goa joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
grand old party on Thursday accused the ruling outfit of luring away
the legislators by offering Rs 40-50 crore to each one of them.
Congress's Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao, who arrived in Goa in
the wake of the political developments in the coastal state, made these
allegations in a press conference in Panaji.
The BJP, however,
rubbished the charges saying that the eight Congress legislators joined
the ruling party not for monetary gains but because they were impressed
by its development agenda.
The eight Congress MLAs, including
former chief minister Digambar Kamat, on Wednesday joined the ruling
BJP, dealing a body blow to the opposition party which is now left with
just three MLAs in the 40-member Assembly.
"Money to the tune of
Rs 40-50 crore was paid to each MLA to switch over, or maybe they were
having the fear of the central agencies. The national party (BJP) is
doing such things everywhere. Where is all this money coming from? They
are misusing the power. They are breaking the elected representatives,"
Rao alleged.
The BJP is coming with thousands of crores of rupees
and targeting the opposition MLAs through agencies like Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he
claimed.
"Has even one ED notice been issued to any BJP MLA? This
is the kind of politics that we are fighting against. If we don't
fight, then the country will be destroyed," he said.
Goa Pradesh
Congress Committee president Amit Patkar said one of the MLAs was
initially approached (by the BJP) with Rs 30 crore cash, but he was not
ready for that amount.
Hence, in order to convince him, additional Rs 10
crore were offered to him within two hours.
"But since he was
not willing even after that, he was given Rs 5 crore more, only after
which he agreed," he said without naming the MLA.
During the
press conference, Rao lashed out at Michael Lobo, one of the MLAs who
joined the BJP, calling him a 'rat'.
"We thought he (Lobo) was a
lion, but he turned out to be a rat. There is no leadership quality in
him," Rao said, adding that the Congress had consulted several people
before giving a ticket to Lobo and they had given a positive
feedback.
"We thought that he will remain in the Congress. We
gave him ticket and supported him. At that point of time, it was a right
decision. We felt that his coming in was good for us. But it was a
mistake for us to take such kind of a person," he said.
The BJP
retained power in the coastal state after the state assembly elections
in February this year.
Before the Congress MLAs joined the BJP on
Wednesday, the ruling party had 20 MLAs in the assembly.
The Congress'
strength has now came down to three.
BJP's Goa unit president
Sadanad Shet Tanavade, however, dismissed the Congress's
allegations.
He said the eight legislators joined the BJP not for
monetary gains, but because they were impressed by the party's
development agenda.
"BJP's central leadership gave a green signal
to the induction of these eight MLAs, who have joined without any
condition," Tanavade said.
He said the Congress MLAs realised
that their party was getting vanished and that the BJP was working on
the agenda of development. -- PTI
TOP STORIES
© 2024 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances