Karnataka government formation: BJP rubbishes Kumaraswamy’s horse-trading charges

Kumaraswamy had said the BJP was trying to lure rival MLAs to boost its numbers to form a government in Karnataka.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday rejected Kumaraswamy’s charges that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had offered ₹100 crore and cabinet posts to his party’s newly-elected MLAs to cobble up the numbers to form a government in Karnataka as imaginary while expressing confidence about ruling the state.

Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Prakash Javadekar (right), Ananth Kumar and JP Nadda greet Karnataka unit chief of the party BS Yeddyurappa, after he was elected leader of the BJP legislature party, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday. (PTI photo)

“ ₹100 crore figure is not only imaginary but it is what the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) do politics with. We are going by the rules. We do not deal in horse-trading of any kind. We are confident of forming a government. We have met the governor and submitted our claim. We are very sure that we will make a government and a very stable one,” Javadekar who is the Karnataka in-charge for the BJP told reporters.

Javadekar’s remarks came soon after Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of horse-trading. The JD(S) leader had agreed to a post-poll alliance with the Congress on Tuesday afternoon to stake claim for forming the government after counting tends indicated a hung assembly. Kumaraswamy said the BJP was trying to lure rival MLAs to boost its numbers to form a government.

“Our legislators have been offered ₹100 crore and cabinet seats by the BJP in return for support,” Kumaraswamy said earlier Wednesday.

The JD-S with 37 seats and the Congress with 78 seats have a combined strength of 115 while the BJP emerged the largest party in the assembly with 104 seats but fell short of the majority mark of 112.

(With IANS inputs)