'BJP has no moral ground to stay in power in K'taka'

Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah claimed on Thursday the BJP does not have the "moral grounds" to stay in power in Karnataka, as he alleged that the Amit Shah-led party bought over 17 disqualified MLAs.

"They (BJP) are the ones who came to power through the backdoor. They don't have the moral grounds to stay in power as chief minister and ministers. They formed the government by horse-trading, forcing the 17 people to resign, and destroying democracy," he told reporters at the district headquarters town of Gadag. Siddaramaiah's statement came despite Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's warning that he would file a defamation suit against him and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy for making statements alleging that the 17 disqualified MLAs were bought over by his party.

"When did things like these happen? Whenever Yediyurappa comes, he does these things, be it in 2008 or now. Did they have the people's mandate?" the former chief minister said. To a question on any truck with the JD(S) after the bypolls, he said no such talks took place between the two parties.

The bypolls in 15 segments are underway on Thursday following the disqualification of the MLAs, which brought down the coalition government of Congress and the JD(S) paving the way for the installation of the BJP government led by Yediyurappa in July.