Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday claimed that the BJP was trying to lure Congress MLAs in Karnataka also by offering as much as ₹50 crore to each of them.
Responding to queries from reporters on the recent developments in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, Mr. Siddaramaiah said Congress MLAs in Karnataka will not, however, succumb to the offers of the BJP. “They are trying to shake the government. Toppling governments has become a habit with them,” he said.
In Himachal Pradesh
Six Congress MLAs in Himachal Pradesh had turned rebels and cross-voted in favour of the BJP during the recent Rajya Sabha elections in the North Indian State, leading to the defeat of Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi. In Karnataka, however, the Congress successfully managed to elect all its three nominees to the Rajya Sabha - Ajay Maken, G.C. Chandrashekar, and Syed Naseer Hussain.
Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed out that the BJP had never come to power in Karnataka with the blessings of the people. Contending that they had never won a decisive mandate by the people either in 2008 or in 2018, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the saffron party had come to power in Karnataka on both occasions through “Operation Kamala” (engineered defections).
Earlier, a day after former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar rejoined the BJP after quitting the Congress, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar too had alleged that the BJP was trying to lure his party’s leaders and legislators.
Niti Aayog claim
When his reaction was sought to Niti Aayog’s claims that poverty had declined to less than 5% in the country, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the claims were yet to be ascertained. Though it would be a matter of happiness if the poverty in the country had come down, he expressed doubts over the claims. “It does not seem so”, he said while referring to the distribution of rice to 82 crore people below poverty line.
