Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are worked up against the decision of Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi to grant Chief Minister Dharam Singh time till January 27 to prove his majority on the floor of the house.
Talking to newsmen in New Delhi, party General Secretary Arun Jaitley said that the governor's decision was not in consonance with the directives of the Supreme Court.
"Normally one week's time is granted when the assembly is not in session. This is to give time to members of the legislature to get back to the state capital. But in the case of Jharkhand, the Supreme Court gave just three days to prove the majority. The Karnataka assembly is in session, hence the governor should have given the shortest possible time to prove the majority. In fact, it should have been done on the second day of the session. We could have even brought a no-confidence motion. It is the duty of the governor to give shortest possible time and not give time to cobble up a majority," Jaitley said.
Complete coverage: Karnataka crisis
Asked if the party was worried that equations may change on January 27, Jaitley said that there was no such possibility as 46 MLAs were on the side of H D Kumaraswamy, son of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
"If two thirds of the members of a party breakaway they could merge with another party and avoid the anti-defection law. But in the present case, the Janata Dal(Secular) need not worry as more than 90 percent of the MLAs are with Kumaraswamy. We have more then 130 MLAs while the Congress has just 85 MLAs," he said.
But the mood at the party headquarters in New Delhi looked dismal as the news came in that the Congress was willing to offer chief ministership to Deve Gowda's party in bid to save the coalition.
