BJP offered Rs 5 crore MLAs to switch sides: Sena

The Shiv Sena  claimed that the BJP offered Rs  five crore offer to its (Shiv Sena) MLAs to switchover to the latter.

"They (BJP) do not have money for the (development of) state...they don't have money to give to farmers...they offer Rs 5 crore per MLA to switch sides.....this is nothing but black money," Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said.

According to him, since the offer has come from a senior minister, there needs to be a probe into the entire episode.

Shiv Sena MLA from Kannad in Aurangabad district, Harshvardhan Jadhav, who is the son-in-law of BJP state unit president Raosaheb Patil-Danve, claimed that Public Works Minister Chandrakant Patil made the offer.

"Chandrakant Dada told me that that the BJP is upset and fed up at the constant bickering by the Shiv Sena. Each MLA has been offered Rs 5 crore, a (BJP) nomination in the byelections. They were asked to join the BJP so that it can ditch the Shiv Sena. The same offer was made to me...they also told me that they would get us elected in the bye-elections," Jadhav claimed.

However, he  did not furnish any documentary evidence to back his claim.

The BJP, on the other hand, has refuted the charges. "All these are baseless charges. BJP does not need to do such things...Compared to Jadhav, Patil enjoys the trust of people of Maharashtra," state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, adding that Jadhav's statement is a farce.