Gujarat MLAs offered Rs15 crore each to support BJP, claims Congress
The Congress claims in the Lok Sabha that its MLAs in Gujarat were being offered Rs15 crore in return for support to the BJP and being pressurised by the ruling party in the state
New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday claimed in the Lok Sabha that its MLAs in Gujarat were being offered Rs15 crore in return for support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and being pressurised by the ruling party in the state.
As soon as the House assembled, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of the political situation in Gujarat, from where Congress shifted its MLAs to Karnataka fearing poaching allegedly by the BJP ahead of the 8 August Rajya Sabha elections.
The ruling BJP has fielded three members, including party president Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and a rebel Congress MLA for the elections. Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser, is seeking re-election.
“The Congress MLAs are being put under pressure," Kharge alleged amid the protests and counter-protests by Congress and BJP members, respectively.
Congress chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia alleged that each of the Congress MLAs in Gujarat were offered Rs15 crore in return for supporting the BJP.
Both Kharge and Scindia wanted a discussion on the issue in the House. However, speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected the demand saying it was a subject relating to a state and cannot be discussed in the House.
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