Every day they (the BJP) are planning to topple our government, a Congress lawmaker said. (PTI Photo)
Accusing the opposition BJP of attempting “Operation Kamala” to destabilise the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka, a lawmaker from the ruling party on Sunday claimed that efforts were on to woo Congress lawmakers by offering Rs 100 crore.
Congress MP Mandya Ravikumar Gowda (Ravi Ganiga) said that though the BJP is trying to destabilise the government by luring legislators, no legislator will fall into the trap and the government is stable and strong.
“Operation Kamala” (Operation Lotus) refers to an alleged attempt by the BJP to orchestrate the defection of its opponent party’s lawmakers in order to install its own government and ensure its stability.
“Even today I am saying that they (BJP) have increased the offer from Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore, someone had called the day before yesterday saying that Rs 100 crore is ready, (they wanted) to buy 50 MPs. The BJP people have gone from Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore,” Gowda said in response to a reporter’s question.
Speaking to the media, he said, “Someone called me and I told him to keep the Rs 100 crore. I thought of filing a complaint with the Education Department.”
“Every day they (BJP) are planning to dislodge our government, from Rs 50 crore, now they have moved to an offer of Rs 100 crore, but our government is stable, the Chief Minister is also strong,” he added.
In October last year, Gowda had also claimed that a team was trying to lure Congress legislators with offers of Rs 500 crore and ministerial berths. He said that they had contacted four legislators and there is evidence to back up this claim.
Gowda today accused BJP National General Secretary BL Santhosh, Union Ministers Shobha Karnadlaje, Pralhad Joshi and HD Kumaraswamy (of JDS) of working like a “gang” to destabilise the Congress government in the state.
“With 136 MPs, the Congress government is rock-solid, there is a popular, pro-poor Chief Minister and no one can unseat him,” he added. “But these people have promised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and are roaming around with the aim of toppling the government.”
Gowda claimed that BJP “middlemen” are in touch with Congress MPs every day and that “none of our MPs will fall into their trap… they (BJP) want to oust the government by buying MPs. They want to destabilise as the Congress is strong in Karnataka.”
“We are collecting evidence, we will give it to ED, CBI, we want to catch them with the bag of cash… I have the audio of the person who called me, I should be feeling his heartbeat by now, we will release it at the right time,” he added.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 25, 2024 | 1:01 PM IS
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