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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday said Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Das, who had quit the party two days ago, offered her Rs 100 crore for renominating him to the Upper House.
"Akhilesh Das had talked to me in Delhi and had offered money for repeating him as BSP candidate to the Rajya Sabha," she told reporters. "Das had said he was ready to give Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore to get Rajya Sabha ticket saying as the BSP is out of power now, I would need funds to run the party," Mayawati said. She told Das she would not make him a candidate even if he offered Rs 200 crores.
The BSP chief said she told Das she would not make him Rajya Sabha candidate even if he offered Rs 200 crores and instead of taking help from an individual, her party gets funds through donations made by poor and the downtrodden.
"For the recent Assembly elections and the coming ones in two other states, funds were collected from the people in Uttar Pradesh and other states on one appeal," she said. She also said BSP would give ticket to those who work dedicatedly for the party's movement at the ground level.
On the allegations levelled by Das, Mayawati said "he was earlier in the Congress and at the time of joining BSP he had levelled serious charges against the Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi."
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said at the time of joining BSP, Das had promised to strengthen the party by garnering support of Vaishya community in the state but he did not do so and concentrated more on his business work.
"We believed in him and sent him to the Rajya Sabha but he did not live up to his promises... rather than joining Vaishyas with the party, he used to stay away from the House during the Parliament sessions," she said.
Mayawati said Das's allegations have been proved wrong with the party nominating Raja Ram and Veer Singh for Rajya Sabha seat as they have been associated with the party at the ground level.
"Ram is incharge of the party in four states and Veer Pal is incharge in three states... they have been associated with the movement for a long time and have been using their salaries for the welfare of the people," she said. Mayawati also said the central office of the party will assist them in filing their nominations.
The Rajya Sabha term of Das, who resigned from the BSP on November 3, is coming to an end this month.
