BJP spent 300 crore on 10 defectors: Goa Congress president

Panaji (IANS): The BJP has spent nearly Rs 300 crore to lure 10 Congress MLAs into its party fold, but the days of the defectors in the ruling party are numbered, state Congress president Girish Chodankar said on Monday.

Chodankar was reacting to a statement made by the BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy during a lecture in south Goa on Sunday. Swamy had said that the "situation" in the coastal state where "new people" joined the BJP and were appointed ministers was temporary and that the disillusioned party cadre would get their due soon. Chodankar also said that it was the beginning of the end for the 10 MLAs who switched over from the Congress party in July this year. "Actually, the BJP uses and throws people. Subramanian Swamy in his comments has expressed the inner thoughts of the BJP. The BJP will destroy them (defectors). Some have been given money, some have been given corporations, ministries. They have also spent Rs 300 crore to get these MLAs," Chodankar told reporters here on Monday. "The 10 people who have left us, for them, it is the beginning of the end. They will realise it," Chodankar also said.

The Congress, which was the single largest party in the 40-member state legislative assembly in 2017 with 17 MLAs, has now been reduced to just five MLAs. While 10 MLAs, including then leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, crossed over in July, three other MLAs have quit the Congress to join the ruling party since the 2017 state assembly polls.