‘BJP luring our MLAs with Rs 50 cr’: Shivakumar defends Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday defended Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his claims of buying the MLAs and toppling the state government, saying that the BJP is luring the Congress MLAs with a 50 crore offer to bring down the Congress government in the state.

“The BJP has spoken to our MLAs about Operation Lotus. They are luring them with Rs 50 crore each. Some of the MLAs reported the incident to the Chief Minister which he (Siddaramaiah) also shared with the media persons,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.

Earlier, Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara also said that Opposition parties BJP and JD-S are trying to bring down the Congress government in the state.

“It has become habitual for them to make offers to MLAs. In Maharashtra, people say that the BJP had bought 42 MLAs with money. They brought down the government there and formed their government afterwards. They have done it here as well in the past and they are also trying to do it now,” the Karnataka Home Minister said.

He added that the people will decide over this attempt of BJP and JD-S to bring down the government. “They won’t turn a blind eye to the development. They might be misled sometimes and we will also go before the community and convey things. The people won’t accept them easily and they will reject them. We are not worried about this. We will not let the government get destabilised and brought down. However, in a democracy, these kinds of developments should not take place,” he said.

Parameshwara said that the government has got such a huge mandate and it won’t look good if they try to bring it down.

“If there are flaws from our side, let them go to the people and expose us. In a democracy, this is not a good development,” he said.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP is involved in a bribery operation known as ‘Operation Kamala’. He claimed that the BJP is planning to bribe 50 MLAs with Rs 50 crore each.

Meanwhile, former BJP National General Secretary and MLC C.T. Ravi has challenged Siddaramaiah to substantiate his accusations against the BJP with evidence, asserting that he has made baseless allegations.