The Congress on May 29 said that it would offer “constructive support” to the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka and would do nothing to destabilise it, but warned against any attempts to “communalise” the state or turn it into another Gujarat. “As a responsible opposition party, we will offer constructive support to the new government (that assumes office Friday) on development issues and work for the betterment of the state. We will not do anything to destabilise the new government on our own,” Congress legislative party (CLP) leader Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters here.
“If the government falls on its own due to contradictions within the BJP or loses the slender majority it has with the support of independents, we will not be responsible for such a predicament,” he added.
Kharge also warned the Bharatiya Janata Party against governing with any hidden agenda or attempting to turn Karnataka into a Hindutva laboratory to “communalise” the state, as the party was being accused of doing in Gujarat.
“Though we did not get the mandate to rule, we have a great responsibility towards the state and its people, as 80 of our candidates have been elected to serve the state and provide constructive support. We will not allow another Godhra or Gujarat genocide to happen in Karnataka,” Kharge said a day after he was formally elected the new CLP leader.