Bhopal: Legislators of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), who were brought in a special plane by Congress leaders to here denied Thursday charges of horse-trading and abduction by BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh.
While reiterating their support to the Congress-led Kamal Nath government, BSP MLAs Ram Bai and Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha and SP legislator Rajesh Shukla denied that any BJP leader contacted them and offered a deal.
A group of Congress, BSP and SP MLAs arrived here Wednesday afternoon in a special plane along with Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot.
Talking to reporters Shukla, the SP MLA from Mehgaon, denied the Congress’ charges of horse-trading and abduction by BJP leaders.
“There is nothing like that. I and a BSP MLA (Kushwaha) coincidently reached Delhi together and were staying at a hotel in Gurugram. We are not weak that someone can abduct us,” Shukla said and added that that none from the BJP contacted him in the past two-three days.
Reiterating his support to the Kamal Nath government, Shukla said the government might have been facing ‘threat from Congress leaders’, but not from him.
Asked about returning in the chartered plane along with Congress leaders, Shukla said he was called by MP ministers Jaivardhan Singh, Jitu Patwari and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh to the Madhya Pradesh Bhawan in New Delhi and offered a seat. “Since I have to return to Bhopal, I came with them,” said Shukla.
Kushwaha also denied abduction and horse-trading charges, and said it is ‘not a crime’ to visit Delhi. He also denied being contacted by any BJP leader.
While expressing his party’s support to the Congress-led regime, Kushwaha said, “I was contacted by Digvijaya Singh and offered special flight to Bhopal. So, I took the flight.”
Kushwaha and Shukla also asserted that Congress leaders should be prevented from issuing statements about ‘horse-trading and abduction’, at least about them. Kushwaha also demanded that chief minister take action against the ministers who were claiming they were ‘rescued’ from BJP leaders.
“The horse-trading by BJP are all rumours…We were not abducted. I went there and returned on my own free will,” Rambai also said.
In a late-night political drama Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress alleged that the opposition BJP took eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy to topple the Kamal Nath government.
PTI