BJP spoke of fighting corruption and resorted to horse-trading the same day: Kumaraswamy

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday hit out at BJP for speaking about fighting corruption and resorting to horse-trading on the same day in the southern state.

Kumaraswamy was referring to a recent political situation in Karnataka when two independent MLAs announced on January 15 they were withdrawing support to his government, leading to the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition and the BJP trading charges against each other of poaching their MLAs.

The move had reduced the ruling coalition's strength to 118, but still it was in the safe zone in the 224-member assembly.

"Democracy is being reduced to a number game ... Legislators are being treated as commodity," Kumaraswamy said the united opposition rally of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee here.

"The BJP talked about its fight against corruption in its (January 11-12) national executive (national convention in Delhi) and on the same day it resorted to horse-trading in Karnataka, revealing its double standards," he said.

Stating that India is one of the strongest democracies in the world, the Karnataka chief minister said, "but today we are witnessing a day where the democratic government (at the Centre) is led by some undemocratic persons."