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Journalism of Courage
Hours after B S Yeddyurappa resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka, leaving the field open for the Congress-JD(S) alliance to stake claim to form the government, BJP national president Amit Shah called the alliance apavitra (impious) and said that the legislators associated with the alliance have committed the sin of breaking the public mandate.
In an interview to India TV, Shah said that the BJP will not try to bring down the government in Karnataka. The BJP chief cautioned that governments of such “apavitra” alliances do not run for long time because the public representatives cannot bear the public pressure. According to Shah, the public will teach a lesson to those who have made such an alliance.
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Denying the charges of BJP offering money to other party MLAs to get their support in the floor test, Shah said that had such offers been made, the result today would have been different. He alleged that the Congress had traded the “entire stable”. While agreeing that horse trading was certainly wrong, Shah said, “Congress ne horse trading, horse trading bolkar khud poore astabal ki trading kar di.”
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Justifying the BJP’s move to stake claim the party president said the mandate was against Congress. Had there been 15 days (the time originally set by the Governor within which Yeddyurappa was to prove his numbers), Shah said, the MLAs would have gone to their respective constituencies and met the people which would have made the Opposition MLAs change their mind. “Because the public representatives who have joined this alliance have committed the sin of breaking the public mandate,” Shah said. He said if the MLAs had not been confined in guesthouses and hotels, their conscience would have reacted.
The BJP president expressed confidence that the public will vote against the “impious” alliance in the next elections in Karnataka. Shah said the Congress party has not respected the mandate in the Karnataka elections and added that the Congress is not in a position to advise anything to any party. “They should not talk about democracy,” Shah said. He added that the Congress has introduced a new trend of misleading people and accusing other party leaders.
Also read | Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa’s resignation speech: ‘When polls come, I will be ready. I am leaving now’
The BJP leader reiterated that his party had formed governments in states where it has won the highest number of seats, which is according to democratic norms. “The BJP wins elections on the basis of our work and not mere strategies,” Shah said. He said that the BJP has been growing consistently since 2014 and even the NDA has expanded in this time. Shah claimed that the BJP will form government in 2019 with a larger mandate than that of 2014.
