BJP offered Rs 15-30 crore to MLAs, readied charter plane to ferry them out of Goa, claims Congress

The Congress has claimed that the BJP had offered Rs 15-30 crore to MLAs and kept a charter plane ready to ferry them out.

The Congress has claimed that the BJP had offered Rs 15-30 crore to MLAs and kept a charter plane ready to ferry them out of Goa.

“We have information that even a charter plane was readied. Permission for it to fly out of an airfield in Maharashtra was taken for the time slot of 4 pm to 4:30 pm. But in the nick of time, a few loyal Congress MLAs informed us and our leadership foiled the plans. Once the rebel group knew that they didn’t make 8 MLAs in all, the plan failed,” said Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar.

Also read: Rs 40 crore to join BJP: Goa Congress leader's explosive claims amid mutiny buzz

The Goa Congress leader maintained that the charter plane was to fly out of the Kolhapur airfield and permission for the same had been taken for July 10. However, the GPCC couldn’t confirm if the charter landed in Goa or not.

The GPCC President said, “These few stayed with us for ideology and party loyalty. We don’t have anything to offer. It’s the trust for which they stayed back,” said Patkar.

Refuting the claims of Amit Patkar, state BJP chief Sadanand Tanavade said if such an action was indeed happening, then everyone would have known. “Tell the Congress leader to keep the Congress MLAs in control. No one from Congress has come to me indicating joining the BJP. These are just talks. Why would BJP need any MLAs when they have a stable government,” said the BJP state chief.

Also read: Goa Congress removes legislative party leader Michael Lobo for planning defections to BJP