BJP and its leaders hardly care about Constitution: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Amid the political upheaval in Karnataka, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has lashed out at the BJP and said that the party and its leaders "hardly care" about the Constitution.

"It looks as if the BJP government has come to power just to finish secularism, democracy, and Opposition. Their only goal is to have one political party, which is against democracy and constitution. BJP and its leaders hardly care about the Constitution," Azad said on Thursday.

Talking about the Congress and JD(S) MLAs residing at a Mumbai hotel, Azad claimed that the legislators were flown to Mumbai in a special aircraft and were not allowed to meet anyone except BJP leaders.

"With the active support of government and Raj Bhavan, BJP leaders made Congress leaders and ministers fly to Mumbai in special aircraft and provided them security from Maharashtra government. They were not allowed to meet anyone except BJP leaders," he said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party chief Rahul Gandhi had on Thursday led a protest of party lawmakers against the BJP-led government over political developments in Karnataka and Goa, with the party also staging a walkout in both the houses of Parliament.

The party members protested in the morning in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament complex holding 'Save Democracy' banners. "We are protesting against Karnataka and Goa issue," Rahul Gandhi told ANI.

The 13-month-old Congress-JDS government in Karnataka had on Saturday slumped into crisis following the resignation over 10 MLAs.

The dissident MLAs met Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Thursday and tendered their resignations.

With the resignation of these MLAs, the strength of the ruling coalition has come down to 103 while support for BJP has gone up to 106.

Meanwhile, in Goa, 10 Congress MLAs have joined the ruling BJP.