Congress Legislative Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar accused the BJP-led Fadnavis Government here on Monday, of bribing more than 60 Congress corporators with Rs 15 lakh, after they went “missing” with their phones switched off.
“Strict action will be taken against those corporators who defy the order of the Congress party. Their membership will be cancelled and they will be ineligible to contest elections for the next 6 years,” Wadettiwar warned.
His warning came after the Congress mayor and corporators of Sindewahi Nagar Panchayat in Brahmapuri constituency near Nagpur suddenly became unreachable. Also, more than 60 Congress corporators from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts are “out of contact”, taking the Congress completely by surprise.
Significantly, the votes of corporators and district council members play a decisive role in the forthcoming Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) elections to be held from the local body constituency.
Meanwhile, many other Congress corporators are in contact with BJP’s Chimur MLA Bunty Bhangdiya, according to party sources.
All the “missing” Congress corporators have been shifted to an unknown location and the BJP has started building up a “captive vote bank” even before the candidates for the Legislative Council election has been announced.
Since the incident has taken place in Congress leader Wadettiwar’s stronghold, it is being considered a big political setback for him.
“Politics and social service are no longer honest. Politics has now completely gone into the hands of industrialists and contractors. Very soon, the common man will not be seen anywhere in the legislature,” Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said at a press conference.
Wadettiwar strongly criticised the BJP-led state and central governments for the horse trading going on to win the Legislative Council elections as well as the economic situation in the country.
“This is a bad trend which began from 2014, and I have the figure of Rs 5 lakh each being paid to purchase some corporators. Now this ‘rate’ has gone up to Rs 15 lakh. If Rs 15 lakh is being paid for one vote, will democracy exist in the future? Expenses for this election has reached a whopping Rs 100 crore, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people like us,” Wadettiwar said.
Speaking to media persons about the Congress candidates for the Legislative Council election, Wadettiwar said, “We have not picked out candidates yet. Video conference meetings of senior Congress leaders are going on in which the final decision on seat sharing and candidacy will be taken. There is a huge internal dispute within the BJP and more than 100 corporators of their party are in touch with us. If one group splits, the other is ready to help us, but we are not getting involved in that right now. We will take our decision after the BJP candidate is announced.”