New Delhi, Aug 7 — Amid lobbying within the Karnataka Congress ahead of portfolio allocation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur on Friday launched a scathing attack on the party, questioning the leadership for allegedly "taking offerings in return for a Cabinet berth".
Thakur's reaction came after a viral audio clip allegedly featured former Minister R B Thimmapur and former MLA S G Nanjayyanamath.
Speaking to reporters, Anurag Thakur said: "In Congress, a person’s stature and position are decided on the basis of the offerings made to the party's high command... I am not saying this. This is revealed in a conversation among Congress leaders from the audio tape that came out... Serious allegations have been levelled in that tape—that 80 per cent of Ministers are those who pay for their seats through offerings, and offerings were given to the Congress high command."
Questioning how many leaders were made Ministers "in exchange for these offerings", the BJP leader urged Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to respond to the allegations.
"Such serious allegations of corruption have come to light in the own state of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge i.e. Karnataka," he asserted.
Anurag Thakur said: "It was said that senior leader H.K. Patil did not get a position in the Karnataka Cabinet. Was its prime reason not related to offerings?"
"Along with the Congress' real nature and conduct, its 'payment culture' has also become widely known. Irrespective of any Congress government, no one gets any Cabinet position without offerings, such things have come to light," he alleged.
Thakur added: "When we ask (Mallikarjun) Kharge ji, he points towards his (Congress) high command, towards the Gandhi family, and talks."
Referring to newly sworn-in Karnataka Cabinet Minister B. Nagendra, the BJP Lok Sabha MP said: "The question arises: why was a person who was found involved in corruption in the Valmiki scheme, who was accused, and against whom an ED case is ongoing, given a place in the new Karnataka Cabinet? Was a person who embezzled money meant for Dalits given a position in the new Karnataka Cabinet on the basis of an offering? Was the money embezzled from the Valmiki scheme offered here as a tribute? Or was a new post created and was the person rewarded for stealing money from a scheme meant for the welfare of the poor?"