'One Day They Will Discover': Priyanka Cautions BJP as Curtains Come Down on Kumaraswamy Govt

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the fall of the HD Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka, saying one day they will discover that "everything cannot be bought".

After a trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly that spanned four days and several twists and turns, Kumaraswamy on Tuesday stepped down as chief minister. When Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar put the confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy to vote, the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance polled 99 votes and the opposition BJP 105. Nine MLAs, including 17 from the JDS and the Congress, were absent.

Hitting out at the BJP, Priyanka Gandhi tweeted: "One day the BJP will discover that everything cannot be bought, everyone cannot be bullied and every lie is eventually exposed.” She added that until then, people would have to “endure their unbridled corruption, the systematic dismantling of institutions that protect the people's interests and the weakening of a democracy”.

The Congress has accused the BJP of horse-trading and engineering the fall of the coalition. A statement by senior Congress leader KC Venugopal read: "The sabotage of a duly-elected government in Karnataka carried out by the BJP is one of the most heinous and subversive instances of blatant political horse tradings the country has ever witnessed.”

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also criticised the BJP, saying “Democracy, honesty & the people of Karnataka lost” with the fall of the Kumaraswamy government. The BJP, however, hit back, saying: “Your desperation to hold on to power has lost today. It’s a victory of Karnataka over your unholy alliance & greed for power.”