Shah dubs Congress-JD-S alliance unholy, defends BJP government formation

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) BJP President Amit Shah on Monday dubbed the alliance of the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka as "unholy" and said that there was nothing wrong in his party forming the new state government since it was the single-largest one after the polls.

"We were the single-largest party and we were invited to form the government. There was nothing unethical," Shah said at a press conference here.

"The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka. The mandate was in favour of the BJP. The Congress and the JD-S formed an alliance against the people's mandate. This is what I call an unholy alliance." 

He said if the Congress and the JD-S had not "locked" their MLAs in five-star hotels and allowed them to interact with people, the JD-S would have supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in government formation.

Shah said that the BJP was invited to form the governments in Goa and Manipur earlier on because the Congress did not stake claim despite emerging as the single-largest party as their leaders were "resting and sleeping".

The BJP chief also hit out at Congress leaders for celebrating the government formation in Karnataka. "What is the Congress celebrating? More than half of their Ministers lost. The Chief Minister was defeated from one seat. And, why is JD-S celebrating? For getting 37 seats?" 

He said the BJP's vote share saw a major increase despite the Congress crossing all limits of political decency by aligning with anti-national organisations.

"The mandate was clearly anti-Congress. Wherever JD-S won, our organisation was week. The Chief Minister lost his seat and many of his ministers were defeated. This proves that the mandate was anti-Congress," he said.

The BJP chief said that as the single-largest party, it was the BJP's right to stake claim. "So, should we have opted for election again? Had we not staked claim to form the government, it would have been against the mandate. There was nothing unethical or undemocratic about it."

Responding to charges of attempts at horse trading by the BJP, Shah hit back, saying it was the Congress which sold its stable to form the state government.

"Hum pe horse trading ka aarop lagaya hai, lekin Congress ne poora ka poora astabal (stable) bech khaya hai, (We are being accused of horse trading, while the Congress sold the entire stable)," he said.

"The Congress undemocratically locked its MLAs in a five-star hotel. If they had not locked in their MLAs for enjoying in swimming pools, people would had told them whom to vote for. If they had known the wishes of people, the BJP may have won the trust vote," the BJP chief claimed.

Hitting out at the Congress for "preaching on democracy", Shah reminded how it formed the government in Goa in 1980 despite failing to win a single seat in the Assembly elections.

"I will give you a good example. You can even ask Rahul Gandhi. Probably, he has not read the history of the Congress. You can even teach him about it. The Congress contested the Goa elections and could not even win a single seat. 

"After that, what miracle happened that Pratap Singh Rane defected? The Congress not only formed its government but also ran a government for five years and that too without winning a single seat," he said.

"History shows that the misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution was done most times by the Congress. I have a list of the governments that were toppled and formed by the Congress against the public mandate. During Indira Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister, Article 356 was used over 50 times and the state governments were toppled. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first to use Article 356 in Kerela," Shah said.

He said Congress leaders should learn their party's history and tell the country about it.