BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday hit out at Congress MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar for accusing the BJP of offering her Rs 30 crore cash and a ministerial berth.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru and in Shivamogga, Yeddyurappa said that Laxmi was making baseless charges against the BJP. “I respect her. But I request her to reveal the names of the person(s) who approached her with the offer. If she does so, her statement will gain credence. Anybody can make these baseless charges. Just because she wants to grow in politics, it’s not right on her part to accuse the BJP in this manner,” he added.

The Congress should stop making false allegations against the BJP. It has become habitual for the Congress leaders to level allegations, he stated.

Laxmi on Saturday had said that a woman BJP leader had contacted her over phone and had made the offer, and that she had rejected the offer.

Laxmi, a ministerial aspirant, was recently part of the turf war involving the Belagavi Jarkiholi brothers and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar, which had posed a threat to the very survival of the coalition government.