Amit Shah hits out at Rahul, reminds him Congress 'history'

New Delhi, May 17: Close on the heels of Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacking BJP for ensuring swearing in of B S Yeddyurappa, BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at the Gandhi scion and said the grand old party should remember its own "glorious history of horrific Emergency, blatant misuse of Article 356".

"President of the Congress obviously doesn’t remember the glorious history of his party. The legacy of Mr Gandhi’s Party is the horrific Emergency, blatant misuse of Article 356, subverting the courts, media and civil society," Mr Shah tweeted.

The Article 356 refers to constitutional provisions under which the Centre holds the right to impose President's Rule in states and according to BJP leaders, this provision was grossly abused by Congress over the decades.

Mr Shah also slammed Congress stance on Karnataka development saying, "The ‘Murder of Democracy’ happens the minute a desperate Congress made an ‘opportunist’ offer to the JD(S), not for Karnataka’s welfare but for their petty political gains. Shameful!"

Questioning the rationale of Congress and JD(S) for coming together to grab power, Mr Shah wrote:
"Who has the people’s mandate in Karnataka? The BJP, which has won 104 seats.

Congress which dropped to 78 seats, whose own Chief Minister and Ministers lost by big margins".

Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi tweeted saying: "The BJP’s irrational insistence that it will form a Govt. in Karnataka, even though it clearly doesn’t have the numbers, is to make a mockery of our Constitution".

The BJP president pointed out that H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) could win only 37 seats and lost their deposits on several others. "People are wise to realise", he remarked.

Meanwhile, several BJP leaders, including Union Ministers, on Thursday welcomed the swearing in of senior party leader B S Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister of Karnataka and exuded confidence that the new dispensation will provide a good governance.

"Karnataka is in the deep transformation phase from a dictatorship to people’s govt. BJP will provide one of the best governance and deliver everything that was promised in the manifesto," BJP leader and newly elected legislator B Sriramalu tweeted.

A new found tribal face of BJP, Mr Sriramalu was reportedly being considered for deputy chief minister's post.

Senior party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy told a television channel that the party will be able to prove majority rather comfortably.

To a question, Dr Swamy said, "Even if the Supreme Court has given 15 day time to Yeddyurappa to prove majority, he may do so within five days".

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her missive congratulated Mr Yeddyurappa and said he deserved to be chosen as the new Chief Minister after working so hard.

"Congratulations @BSYBJP . You worked hard, visiting each assembly constituency and patiently heard people speak of their aspirations. All the best wishes to you," she tweeted.