Bengaluru, Nov 18 (IANS): Congress MLAs on Monday rejected claims made by their colleague MLA Ravi Ganiga that the BJP approached them with a Rs 100 crore offer to topple the Karnataka government.
Kittur MLA Babasaheb Patil and Chikmagalur MLA, H D Thammaiah clarified that no BJP leader approached them with an offer of money.
MLA Balasaheb Patil clarified that he got an offer in the initial days of the Congress party coming to power.
“Then my friends in the BJP invited me to join their party for friendship. Money was never involved,” he stated.
“I do not know what MLA Rani Ganiga had stated. There has been no offer made to me,” MLA Patil stated.
However, he claimed, “There is an attempt from day one to topple the Congress government. The 136 Congress MLAs and one Independent MLA will stand with our party. We will not yield to any matter. Whatever I state, I will stick to it. There is no offer of money made to me. No one has touched me. We are happy under the leadership of CM Siddaramaiah.”
MLA H D Thammaiah also clarified that he has not got any offers.
“I do not have any information on MLA Ravi Ganiga’s statement. The clarification needs to be taken from MLA Ravi Ganiga only over the matter,” he stated.
“We have won 136 seats in the state Assembly elections in Karnataka under the leadership of CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge. No one has discussed offers from the BJP. I am not a big leader to make comments over the issue,” MLA Thammaiah maintained.
Commenting on the development, Home Minister G. Parameshwara stated, “Everyone knows that there is an attempt to purchase the party’s MLAs. The BJP is known for it. They are experts in ‘Operation Lotus’. They have done it in several states. In Maharashtra they took 42 MLAs. In our state they took 17 MLAs.”
“They did it in Goa and Madhya Pradesh and they have expertise in it. There is a debate over it. Though the proportion of money is not known, it has come to light that they are trying to purchase MLAs with Rs 50 crore. CM Siddaramaiah has stated it and if a CM of the state is giving a statement it will be meaningful and there will be a proof,” Parameshwara stated.
When asked about forming an SIT over the matter, he stated that an investigation is not a joke and the government will consider a probe when it deems appropriate.
Speaking to the media in Mandya on Monday, Ravi Ganiga stated, that the BJP, in its desperation to form the government in Karnataka, has started making offers of Rs 100 crore to Congress MLAs.
“The BJP leaders are scared of going to jail as one after the other, scams involving them are coming to light,” he charged.
They have spoken with Congress MLAs in hotels, airports and guest houses.
“The BJP leaders have attempted to lure Kittur MLA Babasaheb Patil and Chikmagalur MLA, H.D. Thammaiah. We have evidence of audio, video records, CCTV records. I will release the documents related to ‘Operation Lotus’ by the BJP soon,” MLA Ravi Ganiga stated.
“The BJP is trying to bring down the Congress government at any cost. The BJP has the money it made while in power in the previous term. The Central government also has huge amounts of money and they are making efforts to purchase 60 MLAs required to form their government,” the MLA said.
He added, “They are making big offers to MLAs and 30 of them have been offered ministerial posts. The BJP leaders are even telling them that they just want their government to be formed and their leaders won’t care much about the posts.”
When asked whether he got an offer from the BJP, MLA Ganiga stated that they won’t touch him as they know that he will expose everything.
“I am getting information and updates from my friends and colleagues,” he maintained.