Amidst the hustle and bustle of the presidential election, joint candidate of opposition parties Yashwant Sinha on Thursday accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading in the elections. Yashwant Sinha accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of horse-trading in the elections to the country’s highest constitutional post and demanded an inquiry into it.
The former finance minister claimed that the BJP is running ‘Operation Kamal’, under which it is offering large sums of money to non-BJP MLAs to ensure the victory of its presidential candidate. BJP is afraid of me and free and fair election result. Speaking to the media, Yashwant Sinha said, “I read this morning with great sadness the headline of the news published in a big newspaper of Madhya Pradesh, ‘BJP eyes 26 tribal MLAs of Congress, preparing for cross voting’.
Offering large sums of money to MLAs: He further added, “I have also heard from reliable sources that large sums of money are being offered to non-BJP MLAs to vote for the party’s candidate in the presidential election.” Yashwant Sinha urged the Election Commission and the General Secretary of Rajya Sabha to investigate this corruption of BJP.
BJP running ‘Operation Kamal’: Yashwant Sinha said, “Operation Kamal’s correct name is Operation Mal, as it has become synonymous with dirty political corruption by the ruling party. It is used to cause defections in opposition parties and to topple the state governments of opposition parties.” The former finance minister said, “Besides Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has used it to oust opposition governments in Karnataka, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh and most recently in Maharashtra. In all this I hear alarm bells for India’s democracy.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath had also claimed that the BJP was doing horse-trading politics in the presidential elections and was trying to buy Congress MLAs. Kamal Nath also claimed that one of his MLAs was offered Rs 1 crore to vote for Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.