Bengaluru: Launching a blistering attack on the BJP, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday charged that a section of desperate state BJP leaders may have sought Rs 1,000 crore from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to topple the Congress government in the state.
Kharge said this in the wake of Mandya Congress MLA Ravikumar Ganiga alleging that a BJP team has approached four of the Congress MLAs and offered them cash of Rs 50 crore each and a ministerial berth if they switch to BJP. The BJP team working to lure Congress MLAs has assured to book a special flight to New Delhi to ferry them to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he charged.
Kharge told reporters that he has not received any offers from the BJP team, but if a sitting legislator makes such allegations then it (Operation Lotus) cannot be ruled out in the state.
“Operation Lotus has roots in Karnataka and BJP’s track record shows that they have toppled non-BJP governments across the country. In 2019, did they not do the same in Karnataka? Haven’t they done it in Madhya Pradesh? The list is very long and their standard operating procedure has been the same – to offer post or lure MLAs with cash to topple non-BJP governments,” he alleged.
He asserted that the state BJP leaders, who have fallen from grace in the eyes of their high command, must have sought the help of Shah. “Have they ever won the people’s mandate in the state? They have only come to power in the state through Operation Lotus route,” the minister said.
(Published 31 October 2023, 01:33 IST)