Narendra Patel, a Patidar leader from north Gujarat, showed wads of currency notes during a press conference on Sunday and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tried to buy him.
The allegation came just a day after two Patidar leaders joined the BJP, which refuted the charges.
Patel, who had last month lodged a police complaint against Hardik Patel and three supporters in Patan in north Gujarat and later withdrew it, told a press conference that Varun Patel, who joined the BJP on Saturday evening, took him to meet Gujarat BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani and other leaders on Sunday.
“Varun took me around in Gandhinagar and then took me to Shree Kamalam office of the BJP and introduced me to Jitubhai Vaghani and some ministers. He then took me to a room and handed over a bag of Rs 10 lakh cash as token and promised to pay me Rs 90 lakh tomorrow after a party function which I was required to attend,” Patel told a crowded a press conference late on Sunday.
Patel ‘joined’ the BJP just a a couple of hours earlier before he made the allegations, and was welcomed with a saffron scarf in front of the media.
He said: “It all happened in so much hurry, they immediately called the media to present me and I had to make that show.”
“They made a deal of Rs 1 crore on me. One crore? Even if they bestow the entire Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on me, I will not be bought over. Even if I have to die, fighting for the cause,” Patel claimed.
Patel is the convenor of North Gujarat, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), of Hardik Patel.
BJP’s Varun Patel said the Patidars were joining the BJP again. He said the Congress was playing tricks.
“We’ll do whatever we have to do, we’ll take necessary action,” ANI quoted him as saying.
NDTV quoted BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya as saying, “ Narendra Patel’s U-turn was a pre-planned drama… Congress cannot sway the people of Gujarat with this kind of drama.”
Source: HindustanTimes