Rival political parties in Bihar crossed swords over the political storm in Karnataka, where the three-day-old BJP government collapsed today, minutes before the scheduled trust vote.
BJP leaders in Bihar said that B S Yeddyurappa, who resigned as the Karnataka chief minister, has "followed the glorious legacy" of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while Opposition parties including RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha described the saffron party's aborted bid to form government in the southern state as "the last nail in its coffin".
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav predicted that the developments in Karnataka mark the countdown for the BJP's ouster from power in states such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh later this year and in the Lok Sabha polls next year.
"The BJP is trying to get power through the back door in Karnataka like it did in Bihar last year. But it has been asked to leave by the back door itself," Yadav told reporters here.
He also asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to "break his silence" on the Karnataka political issue. He also wondered if Kumar's silence should be inferred as "an endorsement of the BJP's dirty tricks".
Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh, in a strongly-worded statement, said the developments in Bengaluru mark the "victory of democracy and the defeat of the BJP's machinations."
"It is also the beginning of a Modi-Mukt Bharat," he remarked, retorting the Prime Minister's slogan of "Congress-Mukt Bharat".
HAM founder and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said the democracy and the Constitution have won against money and power. "This win will prove to be the last nail in the coffin for the BJP," he added.
The BJP had combined with the JD(U) in July last year to form government in Bihar after the Grand Alliance ministry comprising the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress had collapsed.
Buoyed by the political developments in Karnataka, RJD, Congress, HAM and CPI-ML under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav had yesterday met Governor Satyapal Mallik and staked claim to form government in Bihar as a single largest block on lines of Karnataka.
But, BJP leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi maintained that Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala had done nothing wrong by inviting Yeddyurappa, leader of the single largest party in Karnataka, to form government.
"Heavens would not have fallen if he (Yeddyurappa) had been granted two weeks' time to prove his majority. But the time limit that was fixed upon the petition of those desperate for power, had left resignation of the Chief Minister as the only respectable option," Modi tweeted.
"By deciding to quit instead of taking part in a test of strength, Yeddyurappa has followed the glorious legacy left behind by Atal Bihari Vajpayee," he said in another tweet, referring to the former Prime Minister's resignation within 13 days of assuming power in 1996.
Modi also decried the post-poll Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka and said "unconditional support by a party with 78 MLAs, to a party with only 38 and yet eyeing the chief minister's chair, just to keep the single largest party out of power can not be termed as democratic".
He also ridiculed the Opposition coalitions in Goa and Bihar staking claim to form governments.
"The NDA governments in these states are not surviving on the mercy of the Opposition. If the opposition had the numbers, it would have brought no-confidence motions in the assemblies instead of staging demonstrations," he said.
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