BJP offered Rs 15 crore to Gujarat MLAs for defection, says Congress

As soon as the House assembled, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of political situation in Gujarat, from where Congress shifted its MLAs to Karnataka fearing poaching allegedly by the BJP ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections.

Ruling BJP has fielded three members including party president Amit Shah, union minister Smriti Irani and a rebel Congress MLA for the election. Ahmed Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political adviser, is seeking re-election.

"The Congress MLAs are being put under pressure," Kharge alleged amid the protests and counter-protests by Congress and BJP members respectively.

Congress chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia alleged that each of the Congress MLAs in Gujarat were offered Rs 15 crore in return of supporting the BJP.

Both Kharge and Scindia wanted a discussion on the issue in the House.

However, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected the demand saying it was a subject relating to a state and cannot be discussed in the House.