PM should order probe into BJP's bid for horse-trading: Congress

On Sunday, Congress launched a scathing attack on the BJP for allegedly attempting horse-trading in Karnataka and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi order a probe into efforts made by his party leaders to bribe and induce Congress and JD(S) legislators ahead of Sunday's trust vote.

"We hope the prime minister will order an investigation into the naked dance of corruption which his party MLAs were indulging in...

"The prime minister should prove his commitment to fighting corruption by launching an investigation into those MLAs who openly called Congress and JD(S) MLAs and offered bribes with an intention to break the rock-solid coalition of the Congress and the JD(S)," Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill told reporters here.

The opposition attack came a day B S Yeddyurappa stepped down as the Karnataka chief minister without facing a Supreme Court-mandated trust vote.

According to Shergill, the Congress would work with its partners as had been earlier said by party president Rahul Gandhi to stitch a coalition to make the "central government free from BJP" and free from hate politics.

"The truth is in 2014, a slogan in India was 'Ghar Ghar Modi'. In 2019, the Congress will ensure it is 'bye bye Modi'. Today, we are making friends and NDA is making enemies," he said.

Claiming that the government had looted the country of Rs 10 lakh crore by raising excise duty on diesel and petrol, Shergill said the "loot" was used to poach MLAs in Karnataka.

"The petrol taxes are ultimately going into a bottomless pit, a bottomless well called BJP to fund their operations to hijack governments, topple democracy and crush democracy," he alleged.

Shergill also took a dig at the central government over the spiralling prices of petroleum products, saying the benefit that the government extended to the people by not raising the prices during the Karnataka elections, should be extended throughout the year so that people get "all year-round relief from it".

"If the prime minister can put a control on the escalation of fuel prices for self-interest, for the sake of polls in Karnataka, why can't he control the fuel prices all year around for the sake of public interest. That means fuel prices is only an election tool for the prime minister," he said.

Referring to the bridge collapse tragedy in Varanasi which claimed 18 lives, he said the prime minister not going to his constituency to express his solidarity showed he was not bothered about incidents which did not give him electoral benefits.

"Modi is not the real son of Varanasi. He is a heartless, stepson of Varanasi who forgot his own people when they needed him the most. He could be part of the wedding celebration of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but could not go to Varanasi," the Congress leaders said.