Bengaluru: BJP MLA Shrimant Balasaheb Patil said on Sunday that he was offered money to leave Congress and join BJP before the JDS-Congress coalition collapsed in Karnataka, Asian News International reported.
While speaking to the media with his unusual disclosure which may put the BJP in the dock, Patil said that he joined BJP without taking any money though he was offered. He could have asked as much as he wanted, but he didn't. He only requested a ministerial post to serve the people, he said.
He further said that he wonders why he was not given a ministerial post in the present government. He added that he had been promised that he would get the position in the next cabinet expansion. He had talked with chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said.
The MLA from Kagwad assembly constituency, Patil had a long association with Congress before leaving the party in favour of BJP in 2019. He was one of the 16 MLAs who left the coalition government, led by HD Kumaraswamy, to fall. Patil was given a minister's chair in Yediyurappa's cabinet but was discarded when Basawraj was made CM.
However, Congress and JDS are planning to raise this issue before the State assembly as the monsoon session is starting on Monday.