Pilot offered me cash twice to join BJP, says Cong MLA

JAIPUR: In the first specific allegation of horse-trading against Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Congress legislator

Giriraj Singh Malinga

on Monday accused the sacked deputy CM of twice offering him cash to switch allegiance to BJP.



The three-time MLA from Bari in

Dholpur district

claimed Pilot first made an overture last December, which he rebuffed and reported to CM Ashok Gehlot. “I had gone to his (Pilot’s) house when panchayat delimitation exercise was going on. It was a one-on-one meeting with him. Sachin ji (Pilot) offered me money, but I declined and said I wouldn’t join BJP even if I resigned (from Congress),” Malinga said at a presser in Jaipur.

Pilot allegedly made a second offer to Malinga, part of the first batch of six BSP MLAs that merged with Congress under Gehlot’s chief ministership in 2009, prior to the

Rajya Sabha

election on June 19.

Asked how much money Pilot allegedly offered him to cross over to BJP, Malinga said, “I was told I could ask for as much as I wanted. There was no limit. ‘Aap toh muh kholo, kitna chahiye (you just open your mouth, how much do you want)?’ he said.”