The president of Bharatiya Janata Party addressed the first press conference after Karnataka elections. He slammed Congress and JDS for playing negative politics and said the combination of both parties as ‘unholy alliance’.
He thanked the people of Karnataka for supporting the party in tough times. He also thanked the party workers for fighting the Congress and making BJP the single largest party in the state. Amit Shah slammed Congress for poor governance and held them responsible for 3700 deaths of farmers.
“If we had not staked claim to form government, it would have been against the mandate of Karnataka people,” he asserted.
He said that the BJP adhered to all the constitutional values while claiming to form the government and said Congress should be the last party to be speaking on Constitutional values.
Humpe horse trading ka aarop lagaya hai, lekin Congress ne poora ka poora astabal (stable) bech khaya hai. We had the right, so we claimed for it (to form the govt): BJP President Amit Shah pic.twitter.com/w7XXAIZ9I3
— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2018
He questioned the reason behind the celebrations, as Congress and JD(S) lost in most of the seats they contested including the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and half of the members of the cabinet. He questioned Rahul Gandhi over his defeats in 14 state elections. “Despite using the money power to create fake election identity cards and joining hands with Islamist organisations like PFI and SDFI, Congress could not win a majority. This is a defeat of the Congress and they have no right to form the government”, he said. He accused both parties of hypocrisy, as both JDS and the Congress had campaigned against each other in the recent elections.
The BJP president also dismissed the opposition’s argument that the Congress was not given the opportunity to form the government in Goa and Manipur despite emerging as the single largest party in both the states. He also said that BJP will comfortably win the majority in next Lok Sabha elections.
Taking a jibe at the Congress he said, “Congress is now starting to have faith in constitutional bodies like Supreme Court, Election Commission and they even like EVMs,” He also said he hopes that the Congress respects the institutions even when they lose in upcoming elections.
Now they (Congress) like EVM&Election Commission. It’s a good sign that opposition now likes both of them even after what they have in hand is an incomplete victory. All I can say is hopefully they like EVM&Election Commission even when they lose & abide by SC’s order: Amit Shah pic.twitter.com/nBKSqh4A3l
— ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2018
The elections to 222 seats of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly were held on May 12th. BJP won 104 seats, emerging as the single largest party, while Congress and JDS secured 78 and 38 seats respectively. The Governor invited B S Yeddyurappa to form the government, following the usual convention of calling the largest party.
Events unfolded as Congress went to the Supreme Court, to stay B S Yeddyurappa from being Chief Minister, but the Supreme Court did not entertain their petition. The Supreme Court ordered an immediate floor test to be held on Saturday. BS Yeddyurappa resigned as Chief Minister as he claimed to not have the required numbers to prove majority. The JDS-Congress coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy will form the government on May 23rd.
