ATHANI/BELAGAVI: Ahead of the 10-day legislature session, beginning from Monday, former BJP minister and Kagwad MLA Shrimant Patil put the saffron party in an embarrassing position on Saturday, alleging that the BJP offered him money at the time of quitting Congress in 2019.
But he was quick to add that he declined the offer and instead demanded a good position in the government. “BJP asked me how much money I wanted. But I asked for a good post in the government to serve the people,” he said after inaugurating several development works at Ainapur village of Kagwad taluk.
Patil, who was left out of the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet, is one of the rebel MLAs eyeing a ministerial berth. He said, “After joining BJP, I wanted to develop my constituency and that was why I demanded a big position. The leaders agreed and made me a minister. But this time, I have been left out. BJP leaders, however, have assured me that I would be given a cabinet berth during the next expansion.”
Political analysts saw Patil’s statement as a desperate move to put the government in a difficult position and force its hand to give him a ministerial position. This will give opposition parties a chance to target the BJP government, saying their MLAs were lured with money.
Patil, who runs a sugar factory, joined Congress during the SM Krishna government in 1999. When he did not get a Congress ticket to contest the Assembly election from Kagwad in 2004, he quit the party and joined Janata Dal-Secular. But he lost the next two Assembly elections.
Ahead of the 2018 elections, he returned to the Congress-fold following the footsteps of his mentor Ramesh Jarkiholi. He got the Congress ticket and won the election. But in 2019, along with Ramesh and other MLAs, he quit Congress in 2019. He contested the Kagwad bypoll in 2021 and won.