BJP offered me ₹5 crore to defect, alleges Sena MLA
MUMBAI: In a fresh jolt to frayed ties between the allies in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of horse-trading.
Jadhav, a legislator from Kannad in Aurangabad district, alleged that he was offered ₹5 crore by senior BJP leader and state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil to switch over.
He said he was made the offer during his follow-up meeting with Patil in connection with improvement of roads in his constituency.
Patil also holds the public works department portfolio.
“During one such meeting on October 17 in Mumbai, Patil asked me why I don’t switch to the BJP. He suggested that I should contest the bypoll on BJP ticket and that they would give ₹4-5 crore for the election expense,” said Jadhav. He also alleged that the BJP had approached some other Sena MLAs with similar offers.
The BJP, on its part, rubbished the claims. “These are totally baseless allegations. The party has a habit of doing such stunts. Nothing of that sort has ever happened,” said Keshav Upadhye, state BJP spokesperson. Calling it a publicity stunt, Madhav Bhandari, state BJP spokesperson, said: “He (Jadhav) has failed miserably in his constituency. Because of his incompetency and negligence, voters are apathetic towards him. That is why he is trying to divert attention.”
Jadhav, the son-in-law of BJP state president Raosaheb Danve, also attacked the BJP for using “shortcuts” to reach the halfway mark in the state assembly.
“The BJP is not doing any development work in the state and is using a shortcut to success. At present, the relations between the parties are not great. The BJP is trying to take advantage of that to get 20-25 MLAs on its side so that they don’t have to seek support from Uddhav ji (Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray),” Jadhav said.
The BJP has 122 MLAs, while the Sena has 63 in the 288-member House. Since the BJP is short of 23 to get simple majority, the Sena has lent it support in the assembly.