The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday denied allegations of bribing reporters at a press conference in Leh on May 2 and said it was the handiwork of anti-party elements in Kashmir that were sponsored by the Congress.
Addressing a press conference in Jammu, BJP's Ladakh in-charge Vikram Randhawa said the allegations raised by Leh journalists are baseless and misleading.
“It was supported by anti-BJP elements in Kashmir and the Congress to malign the image of the party,” he said
Randhawa, who stands accused of bribing journalists in Leh, said the CCTV footage of the incident doesn’t show any BJP leaders bribing journalists.
He said the footage of the incident is of the invitation envelopes being given to reporters for the coverage of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to Leh on May 4. “This is being shown as if money was given to them,” the BJP MLC said.
He said some media persons returned the envelopes after opening them and said they don’t need a special invitation as they would be covering the event.
He blamed “some Congress minded” journalists for deliberately creating hype over it and alleging that money is being given to them.
He said after the press conference, the same journalists relished lavish lunch for which they paid Rs 11,000. “Normally when 8-10 people dine together, the bill could be Rs 1,000-2,000 but their lunch had cost us Rs 11,000, isn’t it also a type of bribe?” he asked.
He said that the party will sue the journalists in Leh for defamation.
Randhawa said if the authorities feel they need to conduct a lie detector test on them, they were ready.
The allegation of bribing reporters by the BJP was made by the president of the Press Club Leh, Morup Stanzin.
A two-page complaint, signed by several members of the Press Club, was submitted to the Election Commission on May 3 alleging that the BJP had tried to bribe journalists to influence the election narrative in its favour.
