New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): After the Congress-JD(S) coalition lost the trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly, the grand old party will hold nationwide protests against the "immoral political destabilisation" of BJP.

Making the announcement, Karnataka Congress in-charge KC Venugopal on Tuesday said that the political morality and values got defeated by the BJP's unscrupulous horse-trading in the state.

"The subversion of the coalition government in Karnataka carried out by the BJP is one of the most heinous political horse tradings the country has ever witnessed. The coalition government was subverted by the nefarious joint efforts of the central government and governor," he said in a statement.

"The Congress party will hold nationwide protests against the immoral political destabilisation carried out by the BJP," Venugopal added.

He asserted that the BJP facilitated the "dirty-dealing political drama" by offering a huge amount of black money and ministerial berths to the defected MLAs.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP misused central agencies like ED, IT and said that the party carried out one of the "biggest political subversion and hawala transaction" to destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka.

"Video evidence of BJP leaders offering money to the defected MLAs for destabilising the coalition government and carrying out political horse-trading has been even raised in the legislative assembly. The Congress party and JD(S) fought in the floor of the House, Supreme Court as well as in the streets to upheld the democratic morals and values," Venugopal said.

He said that the Congress-JD(S) coalition earned a "moral victory" even after losing the confidence motion.

"All MLAs who stood with the party and workers who fought for upholding political morality in the state deserve huge respect. Although BJP could get an upper hand in the legislative assembly in terms of the number of MLAs, the Congress-JD(S) had earned the moral victory," Venugopal stated.

The 14-month-old Congress JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka fell on Tuesday after it was defeated on the floor of the Karnataka Assembly with about 20 MLAs of the ruling coalition defying their party whips and absenting from voting on the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

The trust vote moved by Kumaraswamy got 99 votes as against 105 of the opposition.

Immediately after the vote, Kumaraswamy sought an appointment with Governor, Vajubhai Vala and went to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation.

Congress leader HK Patil said after the vote: "This defeat is because of betrayal of our party legislators, we have come under the influence of various things. I am sure people of Karnataka will not tolerate this type of betrayal of the party."

The defeat marks the end of an uneasy coalition that was formed after the assembly polls in May 2018, which returned a hung verdict after three main parties in the state- Congress, BJP and the JD (S) fought each other in the polls. There were differences between the coalition partners that often came to the surface but they carried on against the threat of BJP.

The voting on the trust motion started around 7.25 pm after four days of prolonged debate ignoring repeated directives of the Governor who set three deadlines for the completion of the business on Thursday and Friday, even as the battle over the resignation and disqualification of the dissident MLAs went on in the Supreme Court. (ANI)

