BJP offering Rs 5 cr each to 25 Shiv Sena MLAs for defection: Harshvardhan Jadhav

New Delhi: Shiv Sena’s Aurangabad MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav on Monday accused BJP of horse-trading by offering Rs 5 crore each to 25 MLAs of his party. Jadhav said he was offered the amount to break away from Sena and join BJP. The allegation is a fresh jolt to the frayed relationship between the two parties in Maharashtra. “I was offered Rs 5 crore. BJP should not resort to such activities. It should rather focus on development activities if they want to save their declining image in Maharashtra,” Jadhav said. The BJP secured 122 seats against the Sena's 63 in the 288-member House in the last state elections. The magic figure was 144 to attain majority. Shiv Sena lent support to the saffron party to be in government. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had recently held a meeting with party MLAs to seek their opinion on whether to continue in the two-party coalition government in Maharashtra. Most MLAs then had suggested him that the alliance should continue. Last month, six out of seven corporators of Raj Thackeray’s MNS joined Shiv Sena. He blamed Uddhav Thackeray-led party for defection saying it played “dirty politics of money” by paying Rs 5 crore to each of them.