Team Herald
PANJIM: Welcoming the people’s mandate in the Karnataka elections, the Congress in Goa has urged BJP to follow the precedent it adopted while staking claim to form a coalition government in Goa in 2017.
The State Assembly elections held in Karnataka failed to give clear majority to any party even as BJP emerged as the single largest political outfit. BJP, as well as JD(S) backed by Congress and Independents have staked claim to form the government.
Reacting to the Karnataka result, Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar said the party has extended its support to JD(S) for government formation and urged BJP to stick to the precedent it had adopted during Goa elections in 2017, wherein despite failing to get the numbers, it robbed the people’s mandate by forming a coalition government.
“BJP adopted this new precedent in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya to form the government and I think they should stick to that precedent in Karnataka. The new precedent was endorsed even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah,” Chodankar said.
“Let JD(S), Congress and Independents form the government in Karnataka,” he said adding, “BJP cannot form the government unless Governor encourages defections, which is illegal.”
Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar said, “We respect people’s mandate. We have extended support to JD(S) to form government” .
Reacting to BJP’s statement that it is a backdoor entry, Kavalekar said, “BJP robbed our mandate and formed the government. Here, Congress has done nothing. We have just extended our support to JD(S) for government formation,” he stated.
