Rs 1,000 cr taken from Amit Shah for Operation Lotus in K’taka: Priyank Kharge

Bengaluru : In a major development, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and IT, Priyank Kharge made a serious allegation on Monday that state leaders have taken Rs 1,000 crore from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and they are using the money to carry out Operation Lotus in Karnataka.

Speaking to reporters, Priyank Kharge maintained that those leaders who were neglected by the high command had gone to Delhi to beg for help from Amit Shah and got the money from him.

“It is no more a secret that the BJP is conspiring to destabilise the Congress government by carrying out Operation Lotus. Wherever they don’t get a majority, Operation Lotus is carried out. They will pull the MLAs by offering money.

“In states such as Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam and Madhya Pradesh where the BJP didn’t get majority, they carried out Operation Lotus.

“In Rajasthan as well they attempted it. In Karnataka, too, they are making an attempt. This is the standard operation followed by the BJP,” Priyank Kharge stated.

He alleged that the leaders told Amit Shah to provide them Rs 1,000 crore and they would form the government.

“Those leaders are not approaching me. But, when our MLA is talking about it, we have to believe it. This had happened earlier in the country. There is history in Karnataka state. It is true that Operation Lotus is carried out,” he explained.

Talking about the power-sharing arrangement between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, he said that only AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will know about it. No other leader has the information. The news in this regard is imaginary, he added.

Speaking about the dinner meeting between Siddaramaiah at the residence of Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwar, Priyank Kharge stated, “BJP leaders do not know what is happening in their party. When the meeting of alliance with JD (S) was held, there was no leader from the state present.