Cong-JD(S) alliance unholy, against mandate, says Shah

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 21

BJP chief Amit Shah today defended his party’s attempts to form the government in Karnataka while terming as “apavitra gathbandhan”— an impure coalition — the coming together of the Congress and the JD(S), the two parties who ran a bitter election campaign against each other.

Addressing media following the controversial Karnataka Assembly floor test, Shah said: “If we (BJP) had not tried to form the government, it would have been against the mandate of the people. I don’t see anything wrong in it.”

Interestingly, Shah also said if the Congress and the JD(S) had not “held captive” their MLAs in resorts and hotels, their voters would have shown them the “right path”. “If they had not held captive their MLAs in hotels and resorts, people would have told them to support the BJP,” he said, terming the post-poll coalition a “betrayal” of people’s mandate.

In a way, he also questioned the alliance’s fate. It was already “destabilized” given the way the two parties continued to keep their MLAs “locked” undemocratically. “I don’t think Karnataka gave a confused mandate because the BJP was short of just seven MLAs. The Congress and the JD(S) should tell what they are celebrating in this unholy alliance,” he said, negating as “adha adhura”— incomplete — the mandate received by the Congress and the JD(S).

“I pray the Congress sticks to its definition of victory,” he mocked adding that then the BJP would have no problem in winning the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “The mandate given by people of Karnataka is anti-Congress, anti-JD(S), let there be no confusion. HD Deve Gowda’s party fought these elections on an anti-Congress plank and benefited from people’s mood against the incumbent party in the state,” he said.

Shah, however, struck down the observation that then in those terms the Jammu and Kashmir Government formed by the PDP and the BJP was also an “unholy alliance”. He also called as a “lie” Yeddyurappa asking for seven days to prove the majority.

He also rejected opposition’s criticism that the BJP formed governments in states like Goa and Manipur despite not being the single largest party, saying the Congress (which had most MLAs in the two states) never staked claim to form the government there. Asked about the fate of the alliance government, he said people will certainly question their MLAs when they come out of hotels as their vote was against the Congress.

He said the BJP would play the role of a constructive Opposition in the Assembly.

Defends party move

Mandate in Karnataka was against the Congress and the JD(S). Had we not tried to form the government, it would have been against the mandate of the people. I don’t see anything wrong in it. — Amit Shah, BJP chief