UB group chairman pays Rs 25 crore to party fund, a car and Rs 50 lakh to each party MLA and free flights on Kingfisher Airlines for a year for supporting his candidature for Rajya Sabha
UB group chairman pays Rs 25 crore to party fund, a car and Rs 50 lakh to each party MLA and free flights on Kingfisher Airlines for a year for supporting his candidature for Rajya Sabha
JD (S) MLAs supporting Dr Vijay Mallya's candidature to the Rajya Sabha are reportedly expecting a small fortune from the liquor baron.
Sources revealed that Mallya is contributing Rs 25 crore to the party fund.
All JD (S) MLAs have been offered cars of their choice and Rs 50 lakh each, and all party MLAs, MPs and senior office bearers also get to fly Kingfisher for free for a year.
The cars on offer include the Toyota Fortuner and Honda CRV both valued over Rs 20 lakh.
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| Vijay Mallya is expected to sail through the elections to the Upper House without any serious opposition. |
"Our party wanted to support Kupendra Reddy, who had promised Rs 30 crore to the party fund.
However, the idea was dropped after the Congress refused to join hands with us," said a well-placed party source, who shared the particulars of the deal with MiD DAY. "This is the deal that we have struck with Mallya.
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This is what we are getting." Mallya, who is running for the Upper House of Parliament for the second time, as an independent candidate, needs 46 votes in the State Assembly to make it.
While the 27 MLAs of the JD (S) in the Assembly are expected to vote for him, Mallya is also eyeing the 18 votes that the BJP will have after they have extended support to the party's official candidates Venkiah Naidu and Ayanur Manjunath.
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Varthur Prakash, an independent MLA, has declared that he would cast his vote in Mallya's favour.
Deal closed
According to the insiders in the BJP, Mallya struck a deal with the party, when he met senior leaders, including Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, in Mumbai, last week.
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However, the price Mallya would have to pay for the support has reportedly not been finalised yet.
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| Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy accompanied the flamboyant liquor baron to Vidhana Soudha where Mallya filed his nomination. |
"Ours is the ruling party. Naturally, we expect more and expect Mallya, who is a good businessman, to recognise this," said a BJP MLA, who did not want to be named.
Expressing his concern over the development, Aswin Kumar, a political strategist and advisor, said, "Everyone knows that values in politics have plummeted to such an extent that no one bats an eyelid when there is talk of money changing hands.
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The bigger question is how useful people like Mallya are as parliamentarians. I want to ask what Mallya has achieved in his first term as a Rajya Sabha member. We should also ask what we can expect from him this time."
"Part-time politicians like Mallya want to get a stamp of authenticity by being elected as MPs.
It is a strategic move to protect their interests and for that they are always ready to spend. This only adds to the political corruption which is already at its worst," said Kumar.
