Maharashtra: Janata Dal Secular's HD Kumaraswamy took a swipe at BJP over Maharashtra
Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has weighed in on government formation in Maharashtra slipping away from the BJP's hands as the result of a "lust for power" - and added a warning for his successor in Karnataka, the BJP's BS Yediyurappa.
"Popular adage 'reap what you sow' aptly applies to Fadnavis. He has harvested the bounty he has sown. (BSY will soon land himself in a similar situation). BJP which is after lust for power, has paid a heavy price," the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader tweeted, referring to Mr Yediyurappa as "BSY".
The wobbly Congress-JDS coalition that came to power in May 2018 met the majority mark of 113 by a very thin margin of only three seats with 116 in the 224-member Karnataka assembly. The government fell after over a dozen lawmakers from the JDS and the Congress quit.
Mr Kumaraswamy's party and the Congress have accused the BJP of luring away their MLAs.
"Hope Maharashtra setback dawns wisdom on BJP to shed its LUST for power, game of toppling govts and forcing unwanted elections," Mr Kumaraswamy tweeted.
Though the BJP at that time said it had nothing to do with the MLAs walking out of their parties, a purported audio clip of Mr Yediyurappa in which he was heard saying BJP chief Amit Shah "supervised and made all arrangements" for the Karnataka MLAs, led to a huge controversy.
The Congress and the JDS highlighted the audio clip controversy as proof of the BJP's efforts to terraform Karnataka to make way for its return.
The Karnataka political fight has parallels to the one fought in Maharashtra in the recent weeks. In both cases, MLAs of different parties were herded from one hotel to another to prevent them from being poached. There were also a few runs to the airport to stop MLAs from being whisked away in chartered jets.
Mr Kumaraswamy's swipe at the BJP comes less than 24 hours after Devendra Fadnavis resigned as chief minister.
The newly formed Congress-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine maintains that their rival had been planning to buy time to poach their MLAs.