Day after Goa defections, Congress says BJP paid each of the 8 MLAs Rs 30-40 crore
The Indian Express | 6 hours ago | 16-09-2022 | 05:40 am
The Indian Express
6 hours ago | 16-09-2022 | 05:40 am
A day after eight of its 11 MLAs left the party and joined the BJP, the Congress alleged that the BJP gave each of the legislators “Rs 30-40 crore” to make the switch.All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa Desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Thursday that the reasons the MLAs defected to the BJP were “power, money and the threats of agencies or government action against them”.“I have collected information, each of these people were given Rs 30-40 crore. For one of our MLAs who was not ready to go, the stakes went up to Rs 50 crore plus a ministry. Where is the money coming from? The money is coming from big business houses, (from) all the corruption they are doing,” Rao said. “They spent Rs 240 crore on eight MLAs. Who funded them and for what purpose?” he asked.The BJP denied the allegations. “We did not go seeking any MLAs. They formed their group and said that they want to join our party. We have not given a single rupee to anyone or made any promises. They have come on their own and they have come unconditionally. The Congress only wants to make such allegations against us to divert people’s attention,” Sadanand Tanavade, the BJP’s Goa unit president, said.He also said the decision regarding the induction of the eight Congress MLAs was taken by the BJP’s central leadership: “The local unit cannot take such a big decision on its own… Had this proposal come to me personally, then I would have perhaps said no.” He said that the Congress MLAs had attempted a cross over in July, but the move did not come through. When they could gather the required numbers, they informed the BJP’s central leadership, which then asked the state leaders to induct them into the party, Tanavade said.Congress’s Rao said his party had erred in picking its election candidates. Regarding former Leader of Opposition Micheal Lobo, who came to the Congress from the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls in February only to return to the BJP on Wednesday, Rao said, “We thought he was a tiger but he turned out to be mouse.”While MLAs who defected, like Lobo and Sankalp Amonkar, had claimed that there was in-fighting in the Congress and that the party had been unfair to its long-time members and senior leaders, Rao rubbished their claims. “The Congress party has done no wrong, no injustice to these eight people… What they have done is shameful. It is like betraying your own mother,” he said.Rao, however, admitted that the Congress made a mistake in getting the Lobos — Micheal and his wife Delilah — on board. “I cannot say we are not at fault,” he said.“I humbly apologise to the people of Goa… Our judgement has gone wrong, I admit,” said Rao.Asked about the party not being able to keep its flock together, Rao said, “If somebody put Rs 30 crore in front of them, then what will we do? We cannot chain them.”Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox“People are angry with us, but we won’t stop. We will go out and win the hearts of the people… The Congress party has not split. Eight betrayers, eight frauds have left… We will take this as a challenge and go back to the people,” he said. He added that the Congress’s doors would be shut to them forever.Meanwhile, the Goa legislative Assembly notified the merger of two-thirds of the Congress’s legislature party with the BJP’s legislature party. “Hon’ble Speaker has taken note of the same and accordingly, seats are allotted to the (eight) members as members of Bhartiya Janata Party in the House,” the notification stated.Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that he would visit Delhi with the newly inducted MLAs, but the date was yet to be finalised. He said a meeting with BJP national president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be lined up.