BJP denies poaching charges, says Kumaraswamy’s Rs 100 crore figure imaginary

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday dismissed the horse-trading allegations leveled by Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader HD Kumaraswamy.

Union Minister and BJP’s Karnataka in-charge Prakash Javadekar said Kumaraswamy’s charges were “baseless” and JD-S’ own lawmakers were not happy with its alliance with the Congress.

“They are leveling baseless charges against the BJP. Poaching and horsetrading are not done by the BJP, the Congress is famous for it. Their own MLAs are not happy with their alliance,” Javadekar said.

Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s claim of “Rs 100 crore bribe to JD-S MLAs” to switch side, Javadekar said that the figure the JD-S leader mentioned was nothing but imaginary.

“Rs 100 crore figure is not only imaginary but it is what Congress-JDS do politics through. We are going by rules. We have submitted our claim to the Governor, are confident of forming the govt,” the minister said.

Earlier in the day, Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of offering Rs 100 crore and cabinet posts to the JD-S lawmakers to switch sides.

“I have been offered from both sides. I am not saying this loosely. I want people to see all this. They have promised people in my party 100 crores in cash and cabinet posts. I urge Karnataka people to understand what is happening. They have all the money in Delhi. BJP had given MLAs crores of money to get to power,” Kumaraswamy said while addressing a press conference in Bengaluru.

In the Karnataka Chief Minister's race, both the BJP and the Congress-JD-S coalition have staked claims to form the government in the southern state after a split verdict.