Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on 6/5/2022 claimed that some people from Delhi came and offered to make him Karnataka CM if he paid Rs.2,500 crores. They assured him of candidature of Assembly election and meetings with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP President J. P. Nadda. Yatnal said people should not fall prey to such assurances.
Yatnal did not mention names of those who offered to make him Karnataka CM. Sonia Gandhi and J. P. Nadda belong to rival parties.
Yatnal as BJP MLA represents Bijapur. His statement raised questions about CM post for sale. Assuming what Yatnal said is true and not a publicity stunt, it appears the agents thought Yatnal has 2,500 crore rupees or can arrange 2,500 rupees.
Basavaraj Bommai is Karnataka CM. Congress leader Siddaramaiah said Bommai became CM by bribing BJP top brass. Development work can not be expected from him.
Yatnal’s statement has embarrassed BJP. This has come after the suicide of a contractor who wrote 40% commission was demanded from him and a statement by a religious leader that mutts have to pay 30% commission to get their money.
No BJP CM was replaced during Narendra Modi’s first term as PM. In his second term Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat and Karnataka CM B. S. Yediyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.
Nine years back, Dhananjay Kumar, KJP state president at the time, had claimed BSY was coerced into giving money to Lal Krishna Advani every month to remain in power. That time BSY was former Karnataka CM and KJP leader and Jagadish Shettar was Karnataka CM. BSY (2008-2011) was replaced by Sadananda Gowda (2011-2012) who was replaced by Jagadish Shettar. Siddaramaiah said Dhananjay Kumar was telling the truth.
Manmohan Singh’s first term as PM was mainly free of corruption charges. In his second term, there were corruption charges in Commonwealth Games, 2G allocation, coal mines allocation and so on. Congress had won 206 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. It won 44 seats in 2014.