‘Cong-JD(S) joined hands with selfish motive, their govt won’t last long’

New Delhi, May 22

The Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka would not last long as the two parties had come together with a “selfish motive”, BJP leader and Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said on Tuesday.

“People of Karnataka gave the mandate for the BJP, which won 104 seats. The Congress-JD(S) alliance has been formed with a selfish motive and it will not last long,” the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries told PTI on the sidelines of an Assocham event here.

The “unholy” alliance was formed not in the interest of the people of Karnataka, she said. “Look at its history. The JD(S) had broken away from its alliance partners in the past. It cannot fool the people for long.”

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy is slated to take oath as the chief minister of Karnataka on Wednesday at a swearing-in ceremony which is expected to be attended by several non-BJP chief ministers and party heads.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have confirmed their presence at the swearing-in ceremony.

The chief ministers of non-BJP states, including Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) are also expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Besides, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati are also expected to attend the ceremony.

While the ceremony is being seen as a show of opposition unity, the Union minister said the non-BJP leaders are getting united for their own “survival” and not for the stake of the country.

Kumaraswamy was invited by Governor Vajubhai Vala to take the reins of the state after the three-day BJP government collapsed last Saturday with BS Yeddyurappa, unable to muster the required number for a majority, stepping down as the chief minister without facing the floor test.

The May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls threw up a hung verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats. The Congress was next with 78 and the JD(S) followed with 37. The BSP has one MLA and two seats went to Independents. PTI