BJP offered ₹5cr to defect: Sena MLA
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 to switch to the party by senior BJP leader and state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil.
Jadhav said he was made the offer during his follow-up meeting with Patil in connection with the 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 I should contest the bypoll on a BJP ticket and that they would give ~4-₹5 crore for the election expense,”said Jadhav.
He also alleged that the BJP approached some other Sena MLAs with similar offers.
The allegation is a fresh jolt to the frayed ties between the two parties in Maharashtra.
The BJP, however, 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.
Jadhav, son-in-law of BJP state president Raosaheb Danve, slammed the BJP for employing “short-cuts” to reach the halfway mark in the state assembly.
“The BJP is not doing any development work in the state and is using a short-cut to success. The relations between the two parties are not great, so it (BJP) is trying to take advantage 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. He added that the BJP could have approached other Sena MLAs with similar offers.
The BJP has 122 MLAs while the Sena has 63 in the 288-member House. Since the BJP is short of 23 to get a simple majority, the Sena has lent it support in the assembly.
MUMBAI: