Synopsis
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of offering bribes to Congress MLAs. He claimed the BJP offered Rs 50 crore to each of the 50 MLAs to topple his government. Siddaramaiah stated that the BJP resorted to these tactics because they failed to win the people’s mandate.
ANIMysuru (Karnataka): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday alleged that the opposition BJP offered Rs 50 crore each to 50 Congress MLAs to remove his government. He said none of the Congress MLAs agreed with it, due to which the BJP is now resorting to filing false cases against him.
“To overthrow the Siddaramaiah government somehow, they (BJP) offered Rs 50 crore to 50 MLAs. Where did they get so much money from? Did former Chief Ministers B S Yediyurappa, Basavaraj Bommai, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra print the money?” Siddaramaiah asked after inaugurating public works worth Rs 470 crore in the T Narasipura assembly constituency in Mysuru district.
He said it was all “bribe money”.
“They have made crores of rupees. Using the money, they offered Rs 50 crore to each MLA,” the chief minister alleged.
“But none of our MLAs agreed for it this time. That’s why they have started a campaign to remove this government somehow. That’s why they are doing it (filing false cases),” Siddaramaiah said.
The Congress has 133 MLAs in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, whereas the BJP and its ally JD(S) have 65 and 18 MLAs respectively.
Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of threatening the chief ministers of all the non-BJP ruled states through Income Tax, CBI, ED.
Referring to the MUDA site allotment scam in which the Lokayukta had registered a case against him, his wife Parvathi B M and brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, Siddaramaiah said it was “100 per cent false”.
He said he is not the one who came into politics recently but has been into it for the past several decades and became a minister for the first time 40 years ago.
He further said he was twice the leader of the opposition, twice the deputy chief minister and twice the chief minister and there were no stains on him.
“Today they (BJP) have filed a false case saying that Siddaramaiah and his wife have taken 14 sites. Do Siddaramaiah require politics for 14 sites? They (opposition) think people are fool. So long as I have the blessings of people, I will not yield or get cowed,” he said.
He said the opposition BJP and its ally JD(S) made baseless allegations, framed false cases and misused their powers by using the ED and the Governor.
“They tried this (misusing agencies) on many people. They did it on Soren (Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren), Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and now they are trying on me,” the chief minister said.
According to him, the BJP was coming up with false cases because the five guarantees introduced by him were for the benefit of poor.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP came to power twice -in 2008 and 2019 through the backdoor, as they did not have the people’s mandate.
He recalled that the BJP got 110 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly in 2008 and 104 seats in 2019.
The chief minister claimed that the BJP paid Rs 30 crore to buy 17 MLAs – three from the JD(S) and 14 from the Congress to come to power in 2019.
“They gave Rs 30 crore to each MLA. Where did they get so much money? Isn’t it corruption money? On the other hand, Congress got 120 seats in 2013 and 136 seats in 2023,” Siddaramaiah said.
