NEW DELHI (PTI) — Opposition Congress today claimed in Lok Sabha that its MLAs in Gujarat were being offered Rs. 15 crore in return of support to the BJP and being pressurised by the ruling party in the state.
As soon as the House assembled, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of political situation in Gujarat, from where Congress shifted its legislators to Karnataka fearing poaching allegedly by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections.
Ruling BJP has fielded three members including party president Amit Shah, union minister Smriti Irani and a rebel Congress legislator who joined the BJP ahead of the election. He will contest against Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser, who is also seeking re-election to the Rajya Sabha.
“The Congress MLAs are being put under pressure,” Mr Kharge alleged amidst the protests and counter-protests by Congress and BJP members respectively.
Congress chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia too alleged that each of the Congress MLAs in Gujarat were offered Rs. 15 crore in return of supporting the BJP.
Both Mr Kharge and Mr Scindia wanted a discussion on the issue in the House. However, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected the demand saying it was a subject relating to a state and cannot be discussed in the House.
