Shah accuses Cong of trying to influence SC
BJP president Amit Shah on Monday accused the Congress of trying to influence the Supreme Court’s decision on Karnataka by releasing fake audio clips of BJP leaders offering bribes to its MLAs. This comes hours af- ter a Congress MLA claimed that a clip released by his party was “fake”.
He also dismissed any threat to his party from Opposition parties uniting as a grand alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, asserting that many MLAs would have supported the BJP in the floor test in Karnataka but for the Congress and the Janata Dal(S) cutting off their MLAs from the people by locking them up in hotels.
Many parties are already against the BJP but that matters little as Mamata Banerjee can do little harm in Karnataka, nor can Akhilesh Yadav make any dent in Madhya Pradesh, nor can the Congress do much in West Bengal, he told a press conference called at the party
headquarters to explain the Karnataka development. For that matter, he said Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu cannot have any truck with Congress in his state.
He ridiculed the Congress celebrating its so-called victory in Karnataka when it was an anti-Congress vote secured by both the BJP and the Janata Dal(S); also, the people's mandate was really for the BJP as its seats had increased from 40 to 104 in the 224member Assembly.
In his view, the BJP has succeeded in achieving its goal of a "Congress-Mukt" (free of Congress) Karnataka, as the State is known by its chief minister and there is no possibility of a Congress chief minister at all.
Shah claimed B S Yeddyurappa would have covered the deficit of seven seats with a much bigger number but for the Congress locking up its MLAs; these MLAs would have come under pressure from the voters to side with the BJP if they were allowed to return to their constituencies and listen to them. He also dismissed the Congress claim of denying it a chance to form the government in Goa and Manipur despite being the single largest party, pointing out that it did not stake the claim. And that is why the governors had invited the second largest party – the BJP.