Bhopal, July 14
Opposition parties’ Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Thursday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of indulging in horse trading in the election for the country’s highest constitutional post and sought a probe into it.
He claimed that the saffron party was carrying out ‘Operation Kamal’, under which it was allegedly offering “huge money to non-BJP MLAs” to ensure its presidential candidate’s win as it is afraid of the outcome of a free and fair election.
Kamal or lotus is the poll symbol of the BJP. In recent years, the opposition parties have been accusing the BJP of carrying out ‘Operation Kamal’ to gain power in the states where it does not rule. The opposition uses the term to describe the saffron party’s alleged attempts to engineer defection for forming a government.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has fielded Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, as its candidate for the election to the post of president. Election for the top post will be held on July 18.
Talking to reporters after meeting Congress MLAs here, Sinha said, “This morning, I read with deep distress the news published in a leading newspaper in Madhya Pradesh with the headline – ‘BJP eyeing 28 tribal MLAs of Congress, cross voting preparation’.” “I have also heard from credible sources that huge sums of money are being offered to non-BJP MLAs to vote for the party’s candidate in the presidential elections,” he alleged.
This clearly means that ‘Operation Kamal’ is now being put into effect even in the election to the highest office of the Republic, Sinha said, adding that it also shows that the BJP is afraid of the outcome of a free and fair presidential election.
He said that Congress’s tribal MLA and former state minister Umang Singhar clearly said during a meeting that he has been pressured.
