Bengaluru. A war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP on Thursday over Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement that the opposition party in the state had offered Rs 50 crore each to 50 MLAs of the ruling party to topple his government. Siddaramaiah had said in a program in Mysuru that “no Congress MLA accepted this offer”. He had also accused the BJP of filing false cases against him in an attempt to “remove him and overthrow his government”. BJP targeted Siddaramaiah calling it a ‘baseless allegation’.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karnataka unit president BY Vijayendra also asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to reveal the basis of the allegation. He said that the Chief Minister has no confidence in his own MLAs and hence he is making false allegations. Vijayendra said that if the Chief Minister fails to prove that Rs 50 crore was offered to each of the 50 Congress MLAs, people will not take him seriously.
Siddaramaiah refused to comment on Vijayendra’s statement. The Chief Minister said, “I will not comment on them.” Why do you ask me about someone who has just entered (politics)?” Vijayendra alleged that while holding a responsible post, Siddaramaiah was behaving in such a way that it was lowering its dignity.
He said, “You have your own government and your own investigating agencies. Therefore, it is your moral responsibility to tell people the source of the bribery allegation of Rs 50 crore. Otherwise, your statement will be nothing more than a childish political statement.” He said that the allegations made by the Chief Minister should be investigated and the Enforcement Directorate should immediately take it over and investigate. Former ministers V Sunil Kumar and CT Ravi criticized the chief minister for making “baseless allegations”.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar supported Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s claim that the BJP had tried to ‘topple’ the state government by offering Rs 50 crore each to 50 MLAs. Addressing reporters here, State Congress President Shivkumar said, “BJP actually lured 50 Congress MLAs with Rs 50 crore each.” Ministers sir. Parameshwara, N Chaluvaraya Swamy, Santosh Lad and KS Rajanna supported the Chief Minister. God said, “This statement of his has any meaning. BJP and JD(S) are continuously making every possible effort to topple this government. “All their campaigns are to destabilize this government.”