DAVANGERE: Mandya Congress MLA Ravikumar Ganiga on Friday made an explosive statement, claiming that those who were involved in the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) government in 2019 are trying to destabilise the present government by luring Congress MLAs with a ministerial berth and Rs 50 crore cash each if they come to power.
“We have video proof of opposition leaders offering ministerial berths to our MLAs to switch parties and to form a government. The video will soon be released in Mandya,” he said.
“Those who have approached our MLAs have said special flights will be arranged and a meeting will be organised with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. They have said they have enough MLAs and have been going across the state to lure more of our legislators.
They have met four of our MLAs and we have the video proof. One of those who approached our MLAs is a former PA to former chief minister BS Yediyurappa. One person from Mysuru region and another from Belagavi region are part of this team,” he added. “A Congress MLA from the Belagavi region was contacted and we have a minute-by-minute account of the transaction. Opposition leaders are operating in Mysuru, Belagavi and Arsikere,” he said.
Ganiga said that it has been brought to the notice of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.
“But the BJP move will fail. In fact, BJP MLAs are joining Congress, though we have not offered them any allurements. They are impressed by the development work taken up by our government. We have a majority government with 135 MLAs. We don’t need any support to run the government,” he said.
Ganiga, a staunch supporter of the deputy CM, said DK Shivakumar will become chief minister after a two-and-a-half-year term of Siddaramaiah.