Bengaluru/Bhubaneswar: Two people were detained at a resort near Bengaluru after they allegedly attempted to lure Odisha Congress MLAs, who are staying there ahead of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, police said Sunday.
The incident reportedly occurred at the Wonderla resort near Bidadi, a town located along the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, where eight Congress MLAs from Odisha are currently lodged amid concerns about possible poaching attempts before the polls.
According to Congress, two men, who were reportedly from Odisha, managed to enter the resort premises and allegedly approached one of the MLAs with an offer to influence voting in the Rajya Sabha election.
The individuals are said to have offered a blank cheque while attempting to negotiate with the MLAs.
In a complaint submitted to Bidadi Police, Ashok Kumar Das, Deputy Leader of the Odisha Congress Legislature Party, alleged that several individuals approached the MLAs with bribe offers and issued threats after their proposal was rejected.
“Today, March 15, four unknown persons met a few of our MLAs and allegedly attempted to bribe them with crores of rupees each to cross-vote in favour of a candidate. When our MLAs rejected their offer, the individuals allegedly threatened to kill us if we returned to Odisha. They also used abusive and filthy language against us,” Das stated in the complaint.
The four individuals named by Congress in connection with the alleged attempt are Birendra Prasad, Suresh, Ajit Kumar Sahu and Simachal Mahakud.
Confirming that the police had received a complaint, R. Srinivas Gowda, Superintendent of Police (Bangalore South), said that preliminary verification of the allegations is underway and that action will follow accordingly.
“Yes, we have received a complaint from the MLAs, and we are verifying it. Soon, we will be converting it into an FIR. Two persons have been taken into custody,” Gowda told IANS.
Further details regarding the case are awaited.
The development comes amid rising political tensions ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to take place March 16.
Amid apprehensions of cross-voting and alleged inducement attempts, the Congress leadership had earlier shifted eight of its MLAs from Odisha to a resort in Bengaluru in an effort to keep the legislators together until the voting takes place.
According to party leaders, the decision to move the MLAs to Karnataka was taken after internal discussions within the leadership to prevent rival political parties from influencing them before the election.
The leaders are expected to return to Bhubaneswar only a few hours before the voting for the Rajya Sabha seats is scheduled to begin.
