Defending governor Vajubhai R Vala’s invitation to BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa to form the new government in the state, the party yesterday accused the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) of being opportunist and sabotaging people’s mandate.
“We (BJP) won the majority in the state... There was no pre-poll alliance between Congress and JD-S, which fought each other bitterly and criticised each other,” Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao told reporters here.
The “opportunist” Congress and JD-S were forgetting people’s mandate, Rao said.
“The mandate shows that people have rejected Congress rule, but they (Congress and JD-S) are trying to subvert the democratic process and sabotaging people’s expression,” he said.
Rao said it was only constitutional to allow the single-largest party to form the government and prove its majority on the floor of the House.
“The letter we’ve received from the governor has directed us to prove our majority within 15 days of assuming the office,” he added.
Of the 222 constituencies where polling was held on May 12, the BJP won in 104, while the Congress won in 78 seats and the JD-S in 38, along with its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which won one seat, resulting in a hung verdict.
The JD-S on Tuesday agreed to accept Congress’ unconditional support to form the new government, as the parties together have 116 seats.
The BJP, on the other hand, is eight seats short of the 112-halfway mark needed for a simple majority. After Vala invited Yeddyurappa to form the new government in the state, the Congress approached Supreme Court chief justice Dipak Misra for an urgent hearing on the matter.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi is the leading his party’s challenge. The Congress said the governor had denigrated his office, trampled the Constitution and acted as a BJP puppet.
“ Vala denigrated the governor’s office, trampled upon the Constitution, abused the law and acted as a BJP puppet. He chose to serve his masters in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rather than serve the Constitution,” tweeted Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala,” he said.
Earlier, in a press briefing, Congress leader P Chidambaram said the numbers of the Congress party and the JD-S clearly established that the alliance had a majority in the Karnataka legislature.
“The governor, who is an exalted constitutional office, should not walk on a perilious path which is illegal,” Chidambaram said.
He also said that the governor was bound by the Supreme Court judgment to invite the leader of the alliance (H D Kumaraswamy) that has been formed and which commands majority in the legislative assembly.
Meanwhile Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad yesterday hit out at former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of encouraging horse-trading to bring the BJP to power in the state.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the government formation process in Karnataka was the prerogative of Wala. “I will not make any comment as far as Karnataka government formation process is concerned, as this is solely in the discretion of the governor,” he said addressing a press conference here.
Prasad said he had seen in the media the utterly “irresponsible, misleading and malicious” comments by Siddaramaiah levelling “reckless and unfounded” allegations against the prime minister.
Congress leaders who won in the recently concluded Karnataka Assembly polls board a bus to a five-star resort in Bengaluru yesterday. The leaders are being housed at the resort to stop them being lured by the BJP.
