“BJP is breaking MLAs by giving crores of rupees to them across the country in the name of Operation Lotus”: Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday reacted to the eight Congress MLAs joining Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa and alleged it was the former’s fault for not being able to save its MLAs in the country.
“BJP is breaking MLAs by giving crores of rupees to them across the country in the name of Operation Lotus, this is wrong. But the fault is also of Congress,” Kejriwal said addressing a press conference in the national capital. “They could not break our MLAs in Delhi-Punjab because we expose them, but Congress has failed to save its MLAs,” he added.
His remarks came hours after eight Goa Congress MLAs including former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa on Wednesday.
Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes also joined the party after meeting with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at the Goa Assembly complex during the day.
Taking a jibe at the Centre, Kejriwal further asked where the crores of money are coming to them. He accused BJP of ‘siphoning off’ the public’s money and said it has resulted in an increase in the inflation rate.
“Where are the thousands of crores to buy the MLAs coming from? This is the money of the government, which is being siphoned off, thus increasing inflation,” said Kejriwal mentioning that the “BJP tried its Operation Lotus in every state including Punjab.”
Days ago on September 4, Gujarat Youth Congress President Vishwanathsinh Vaghela resigned from his post which is considered to be a major jolt for the party.
On September 2, party leader Rajinder Prasad, who is also the son of late Master Beli Ram Sharma from Nowshera, Rajouri, resigned from all posts and the primary membership of the party. Prasad blamed the ‘coterie’ system for being a reason for the ‘demise’ of the party.
In recent months, Rajinder Prasad and several high-profile leaders have quit Congress. The exit of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress, months before the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, as well as the general elections in two years’ time, dealt a huge blow to party.
Jaiveer Shergill, who is a lawyer by profession and was one of the prominent ones among young Congress leaders, on August 24, tendered his resignation claiming that the vision of the decision-makers no longer was in sync with the aspirations of the youth.
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Earlier this year in May, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of the G-23 group of dissenting leaders, resigned from the party and filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar too parted ways with the Congress in May this year.
Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar in February also resigned from Congress after a long association of 46 years with the party.
Back in May, Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel had quit the party after he felt that he was being “ignored”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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