Goa Congress rebels offered up to Rs 50 cr to engineer split: AICC state in-charge

One of our members who refused to join the BJP was even offered Rs 50 crore per person and a ministry, but he did not quit, Congress leader Rao claimed

A day after eight Goa Congress MLAs split from the legislative unit of the party, and merged with the ruling BJP, All India Congress Committee’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao claimed that the rebel legislators were offered Rs 30-40 crore for the switch.

The local Bharatiya Janata Party unit, however, distanced itself from the development. State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade claimed that eight MLAs, which included former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and ex-Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo, were inducted exclusively on the directions of the party high command.

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“They (rebels) have not gone for development of constituencies or for Goa. They have gone for power, money and amid threats from (government) agencies over whatever wrong they have done. Rs 30 to 40 crores have been given to each of them. Some of them will become ministers now,” Rao told reporters, after meeting the remaining three legislators who did not join the rebel group.

“One of our members who refused to join the BJP was even offered Rs 50 crore per person and a ministry, but he did not quit,” Rao claimed.

The Congress had 11 MLAs in the 40-member state assembly; Wednesday’s departures reduced the party’s legislative strength in the state to three. This is the third time that a Congress MLA and a Leader of Opposition split from the parent party to join the BJP, beginning with Ravi Naik in the early 2000s and Chandrakant Kavlekar in 2019.

Tanavade, however, tried to distance the state BJP leadership from the decision to induct the Congress rebels.

“I remember in July we were told that these eight Congress MLAs would join. Our central leader Bhupender Yadav had also come to Goa then. But it could not happen that day. After they formed a group of eight MLAs, it happened yesterday,” Tanavade said.

“We follow decisions taken by the Centre. If you ask me personally, perhaps I would have said no to their entry, had they come to me. But these eight MLAs had met our central leaders and this decision has been taken by them,” the state BJP chief said, adding that since his party was pan-India, the local unit could not take decisions unilaterally on such issues.

"We have to follow and execute decisions taken by central leadership,” he said.