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Patidar leader says BJP offered him Rs 1 cr to jump ship

Last Updated 23 October 2017, 09:06 IST
A senior Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader has accused the BJP of offering him Rs 1 crore to jump ship.

Narendra Patel, PAAS convenor from Mehsana district, the hub of Patel quota stir for the last two-and-a-half years, late on Sunday night dropped a bombshell by showing wads of currency notes to the media, claiming that the BJP had tried to buy him out.

"They (BJP) tried to make a deal of Rs 1 crore with me. Even if they give me entire RBI, I will not be bought over, even if I have to die fighting for the cause," Narendra had said showing wads of cash.

Interestingly, Narendra was paraded before the media and was welcomed into the BJP with a saffron scarf by state unit chief Jitu Vaghani.

Narendra had also filed a complaint against Patel stir spearhead Hardik Patel and his associates for arson and loot. He later withdrew the case.

"Varun Patel took me to Shree Kamalam, the head office of the BJP, and introduced me to Jitubhai Vaghani and some ministers. He then took me to a room and handed over a bag of Rs 10 lakh cash as a token and promised to pay me Rs 90 lakh on Monday after a party function,” Narendra claimed.

Varun, a close aide of Hardik and a severe critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined the BJP with another senior PAAS leader Reshma Patel recently. Varun later denied any role, while the BJP blamed the Congress.

Even before the BJP could get hang of things, another PAAS leader, Nikhil Savani, quit the BJP 12 hours after Narendra levelled the allegations.

“The BJP is treating Patidaars as a vote bank and what they have promised is nothing more than a lollipop,” Savani told media persons on Monday. Nikhil is also a key PAAS committee member and had joined the BJP a fortnight ago. Meanwhile, Hardik continued his tirade against the BJP, saying that people of Gujarat are not “cheap”.

“This is an insult to the people of Gujarat and they will avenge it…BJP has budgeted Rs 500 crore to buy those running the agitation. If they had indeed done development, what was the need to purchase,” Hardik said in series of tweets.
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(Published 23 October 2017, 04:26 IST)

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