In a fresh round of accusations, Congress MLA Ravikumar Gowda (a.k.a Ravi Ganiga) from Mandya has claimed that the BJP has increased its offer to Congress legislators, raising the amount from Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore in a bid to destabilise the state government. This comes days after CM Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP was attempting to bribe Congress lawmakers to defect.
Gowda said that he possesses “documents and evidence” including audio and video recordings that prove BJP’s attempts to lure Kittur MLA Babasaheb D Patil and Chikkamagaluru MLA HD Thammaiah, among others. He claimed that the BJO has been offering large sums of money to about 50 Congress MLAs, with promises of ministerial positions for at least 30 of them.
Both Patil and Thammaiah have publicly denied any such offers or contact from the BJP. Gowda, however, insists that he will release the evidence at an appropriate time, following which he intends to meet with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and request action.
The BJP too has rejected all allegations and called on Congress to make the evidence public. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi accused the Congress of trying to divert attention from the MUDA case involving CM Siddaramaiah by making false accusations against the BJP. He also suggested that if Congress has any evidence, they should release it to the public and allow for an investigation to be conducted.
‘Operation Kamala’ and Political Maneuvering
The Congress MLA accused the BJP of attempting to destabilise the government by trying to bribe around 50 Congress legislators to defect. However, he insisted that none of them would switch allegiances, as they remained committed to their party. The MLA claimed that the BJP was not concerned with the amount of money, but was determined to form a new government anyhow. Despite these efforts, he noted that the Congress lawmakers remained resolute and loyal to their party.
Home Minister G Parameshwara, while not directly confirming the amounts involved, reiterated that such attempts were ongoing and pointed to the BJP’s history of ‘Operation Kamala’ — a term used to describe the party’s alleged practice of luring opposition lawmakers to defect. He mentioned that the BJP had employed similar tactics in other states like Goa and Madhya Pradesh.
(With PTI Inputs)