Shivraj Singh Chauhan blames Congress for Karnataka crisis

Senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chauhan Friday blamed the Congress for the political crisis in Karnataka and claimed that the H D Kumaraswami government there has lost its majority.

The political drama continues in Karnataka as the JD (S)-Congress government ignored the governor's deadline twice for proving majority on the floor of the Assembly on Friday, setting off a constitutional crisis and a fresh legal battle.

The assembly there also failed to take up the voting on the confidence motion to decide the fate of the 14-month- old coalition government as Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House till Monday.

"The Congress is responsible for the crisis in Karnataka. Sitting on a constitutional post, the speaker of the Karnataka House is acting unconstitutionally," Chauhan told a press conference here.

The state government has lost majority and there should be immediate decision (floor test), the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.

He alleged that the ruling coalition in Karnataka was not based on principles and ideology but on selfishness.

"(Congress leader) Siddaramaiah does not like Kumaraswami," he said, claiming Kumaraswami has literally been in tears to run the government.

He said the Congress had brought down the governments of former prime ministers Choudhary Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda in the past and had never "adhered to coalition dharma".

Chauhan, who was here in connection with the BJP's membership drive, also accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of her "politics of appeasement".