BJP accused of attempting to poach Odisha Congress legislators

Accusing the BJP of attempting to poach the Congress legislators from Odisha in Bengaluru as part of the party’s ‘Operation Lotus’, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday said that ₹5 crore had been offered to each of the legislators.

Ahead of the voting in Odisha Assembly elections for four seats to Rajya Sabha, in which no party has the required number to win the fourth seat, Congress moved eight legislators to a resort in Bidadi on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The legislators have been in the resort since Thursday, and Mr. Shivakumar had met them.

Mr. Shivakumar, who in the past has had experience of handling Congress legislators from Maharashtra and Gujarat on separate occasions, is learnt to have been entrusted with the logistics of Odisha legislators. He had earlier expressed apprehension about the possibility of BJP attempting to poach Congress legislators.

“Four persons booked rooms in the same hotel where the Congress legislators are staying. The rooms were booked with the assistance of an individual named Byatarayanapura Suresh. They entered the premises and met one of the legislators and offered ₹5 crore for each vote,” Mr. Shivakumar told presspersons here.

He alleged that the persons had brought two blank cheques, and that these cheques had come from the BJP. “The Congress legislators have refused to be part of horse trading. They informed us, following which two persons were held while two have escaped. We have seized the blank cheques and handed them over to the police. The persons who were held have accepted that they had come for the same purpose (offering money to legislators)”.

“This is an attempt to conduct the great Operation Lotus by our BJP friends,” he said. The All India Congress Committee leaders have been provided information about the incident, and that they would explain about it further, he added.

Meanwhile, he met Congress president Mallikarjun M. Kharge on Sunday after the incident. The Congress has lodged a police complaint and they will initiate action as per law.