After the recent rebellion in Maharashtra’s ruling party Shiv Sena, many opposition-ruled states have claimed that there have been attempts to make waves in their governments as well, the most recent instance coming from Congress-ruled Rajasthan.
Rajasthan’s minister of state for soldiers’ welfare Rajendra Gudha has come forward with a sensational claim, saying that he was offered a whopping amount of Rs 25 crore for his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections held recently.
Similarly, he disclosed that he was offered over Rs 60 crore to go against his party during the rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in 2020. Gudha, who is one of the cabinet ministers in Rajasthan, switched from the Bahujan Samaj Party to the Congress earlier.
Gudha said he spurned both offers and did not mention any leader or a party while making the allegation. The minister in the state’s Congress government was addressing an event at a private school in Jhunjhunu on Monday.
In a video that surfaced Tuesday, he is heard replying to a question from a student. “I had an offer of Rs 25 crore to give my vote to one person. I then asked my wife,” he said, adding that she told him that they would rather have “goodwill”.
The Rajasthan minister further revealed that it was his family who talked him out of the Rs 60 crore offer against CM Ashok Gehlot. As per PTI reports, Gudha said, “I would also like to tell you that when the political crisis was going on, I had an offer of Rs 60 crore. I talked to my family. My wife, son, and daughter said that they want goodwill and not money.”
This comes in the backdrop of the recent rebellion staged by a faction of Shiv Sena MLAs in Maharashtra, led by Eknath Shinde, against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Meanwhile, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot repeatedly accused the BJP of trying to destabilise his government by offering crores of rupees to MLAs.
(With PTI inputs)
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