Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar on Friday said that the BJP was trading legislators like "sheep and goats" in Goa, while also accusing the ruling party of spending as much as Rs 30 crore each to lure opposition MLAs into the ruling fold.
Shivakumar, who is in Goa to campaign for the Congress in the poll-bound state, also said that the Congress as a policy had refused to allow the re-entry of 13 defecting MLAs back into the party for the February 14 elections.
"You see the BJP is using money power, spending Rs 30-40 crore. Even on the floor of the house, some MLAs admitted that they were offered Rs 30 crore and some advance has been given to them. MLAs have been bought like sheep and goats. Where is democracy? Democracy has completely failed," Shivakumar told a press conference.
Several Congress defectors out of the 13, who switched to the BJP from 2017 to 2019, were in touch with him over possibilities of joining the opposition party once again, Shivakumar said.
"BJP did 'Operation Lotus' (in Goa). We decided that not a single defector will be taken back. Out of the 13, nearly 10 members wanted to come back to us. They met me personally. A few of them met me in Delhi also. We didn't agree," Shivakumar said.
The Karnataka state Congress president also said that the party had chosen to field fresh, new faces instead, which he said would yield good electoral dividends. "Now, we have selected youngsters, new faces. All of them have pledged that they will not shift their loyalty," Shivakumar said.
According to state Congress president Girish Chodankar, the party was fielding 36-37 candidates for the upcoming polls and the average of Congress candidates was around 48 years.
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