GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 16
With ruling BJP replaying its 2017 Rajya Sabha gameplan of triggering defections or resignation of Congress MLAs, Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda, here on Monday, alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bought resignations of five Congress MLAs for Rs 65 crore using a corruption fund. This was countered by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani that Congress had made an abortive attempt to bribe his deputy Nitinbhai Patel.
As soon as the House assembled for the sixth session, heated discussions ensued between the Congress and the BJP members.
Chavda and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Paresh Dhanani started accusing the BJP of indulging in corrupt practices over five Congress MLAs’ resignations on Saturday and Sunday.
On Monday Speaker Rajendra Trivedi confirmed in the assembly that Mangal Gamit, JV Kakadiya, Soma Patel, Pravin Maru, and Pradyumnsinh Jadeja had tendered their resignations on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Immediately iting a news report, Chavda alleged the corruption money was used to buy five MLAs. “A newspaper today has claimed Rs 65 crore exchanged hands at the Gujarat Chief Minister’s bungalow. Where did this money come from,” he said.
The ruling party members retorted the charge causing uproar in the House.
To this, the Chief Minister Vijay Rupani also alleged that it was Congress’ MLA who had tried to bribe the Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel. “In the house, their MLAs had gotten up and asked Nitin Patel to come to Congress with 15 MLAs and he will be made the Chief Minister. They started this kind of antics. We never bribe anyone. You can’t control your MLAs, ” Rupani said in response.
Infuriated by the allegations, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel demanded that the opposition either prove the allegations or apologize. “The opposition leaders have made allegations of corruption against the Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP. We can’t take it lightly. Either they prove their accusations or apologize,” he said.
“In an informal discussion, the BJP MLA friends complained that nobody takes notice of them, while the outsiders (Congress MLAs) are being paid money,” Dhanani said. “Right now the world is affected by coronavirus, while Gujarat is getting affected by ”Todo na” virus and now it”s ”Maro Na” virus,” Dhanani said.
Responding to the Congress charge, Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani said, “The infighting within the Congress has resulted in resignations of MLAs.”
Another request was from the Congress party that since the Government of Gujarat had taken precautionary measures to make sure COVID-19 was kept in control, they should also stop convening the assembly. To this, Nitin Patel claimed that they will not be doing so. “There is a lot of work pending for the assembly and need to wrap up before the budget session concludes. The session will go on as per the schedule. However, we have stopped the outsider visit program that had to take place at the assembly. Also, you can see that there are lesser and lesser MLAs of Congress anyway who are present here,” said Nitin Patel.
