IF MLAs WERE NOT HELD CAPTIVE, WE WOULD HAVE WON: AMIT SHAH

New Delhi, May 21: With the JD(S)-Congress alliance set to come to power in Karnataka, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday asserted that such a government will be a “betrayal” of people’s mandate and questioned its fate, saying it is already “destabilised” with the two parties forced to keep their MLAs “locked in hotels” undemocratically.

If the Congress and the JD(S) had not “locked up” their MLAs in hotels and allowed them to interact with their voters, then people would have told them where they have to vote, Mr Shah said, suggesting that the BJP government would have survived then.

New Delhi, May 21: With the JD(S)-Congress alliance set to come to power in Karnataka, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday asserted that such a government will be a “betrayal” of people’s mandate and questioned its fate, saying it is already “destabilised” with the two parties forced to keep their MLAs “locked in hotels” undemocratically. Addressing a press conference, Mr Shah also mocked the Congress for its celebration at the turn of events in Karnataka, saying it has found a new way of discovering win in its defeat and added that he prayed that it sticks to its definition of victory. The BJP then would have no problem in winning the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he said. Describing the Congress JD(S) alliance as “unholy”, he said the H.D. Deve Gowda’s party fought the election on an anti-Congress plank and benefited from people's mood against the incumbent party in the state. Amid criticism of the BJP for forming government despite lacking a majority, Mr Shah defended the decision, saying people’s mandate was against the Congress and being the largest party with only seven seats short of the required support of 111 MLAs, the BJP had to go with the popular verdict, especially since no party had a clear majority.