Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde claimed on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached both him and his legislator daughter, Praniti, to join them ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a claim the BJP later called “baseless”.
Shinde was speaking to the media at Solapur, his constituency, when he said a senior BJP leader “matching his political stature” made him the offer. “I won’t reveal his name. He approached Praniti on many occasions too but she turned it down,” said Shinde. “We are loyal Congress workers and will live and die in the party. BJP can’t lure us by making such offers,” he said. Praniti Shinde is a two-term MLA from Solapur. Sushilkumar Shinde will contest the Solapur Lok Sabha seat against BJP’s Jai Siddheshwar Swami, a Lingayat leader, and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar.
Shinde’s claims come days after he supported Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil’s son, Sujay’s, defection to the BJP.
Shinde had said then that the younger generation has the freedom to choose their political party.
The BJP said Shinde’s claim was “baseless”. “Sushilkumar Shinde is trying to create suspicion in the minds of voters by such baseless allegations in which he has not named any BJP leader,” said Madhav Bhandari, the BJP’s spokesperson. “Shinde is a leader who had backtracked his own promise to waive electricity bills of farmers if elected to power in 2004. In this backdrop, I do not think he should be taken seriously,” Bhandari said.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP said Shinde’s claim was “baseless”. “Sushilkumar Shinde is trying to create suspicion in the minds of voters by such baseless allegations in which he has not named any BJP leader,” said Madhav Bhandari, the BJP’s spokesperson. “Shinde is a leader who had backtracked his own promise to waive electricity bills of farmers if elected to power in 2004. In this backdrop, I do not think he should be taken seriously,” Bhandari said.
{{/usCountry}}On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Congress also attacked BJP leaders about their assets and wealth. The attack comes after some BJP leaders raised questions about Rahul Gandhi’s wealth. On Tuesday, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant questioned the source of BJP MP Poonam Mahajan’s wealth and its rise over five years.
“Poonam Mahajan’s known assets in 2009, according to her election affidavit, was Rs12 crore, but this rose to Rs105 crore during the 2014 elections. Similarly, BJP MLA Ram Kadam’s wealth increased 300 times to Rs39 crore in 2014 from Rs13 crore in 2009. Another party MLA Prasad Lad’s wealth grew to Rs210 crore in 2017 from Rs126 crore in 2014. The BJP should first answer how the incomes of their leaders rose,” he said.