Tharoor compares Cong-JD(S) coalition collapse in Karnataka with 'cattle auction'

Shashi Tharoor

HD Kumaraswamy’s government failed to prove majority in the Karnataka Assembly floor test held on July 22. Moments after the events unfolded leading to the downfall of the fragile Congress-JD(S) coalition, MP Shashi Tharoor compared the developments to the central government’s decision to curb cattle sale.

In the floor test, the saffron party won 105 votes against 99 votes of the coalition, and the former dubbed it as “karma”.

When Kumaraswamy was on a vacation in the United States earlier in July, 16 legislators from the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition quit en masse. Apart from them, two Independents also switched allegiance to the BJP, further weakening the support base of the coalition.

Now, Tharoor referred to the BJP's win in the floor test with that of a cattle auction because Congress leaders and members of the failed alliance are of the belief that the BS Yeddyurappa-led Karnataka wing of the party “bought off” rival legislators.

Expressing his grievance, the Congressman tweeted: “So, the party that banned cattle auctions has successfully conducted one in Karnataka! My admiration for the courage & principle shown by DK Shivakumar & those @INCIndia MLAs who were neither cajoled nor cudgelled into changing their allegiance. We shall overcome one day.”

So the party that banned cattle auctions has successfully conducted one in Karnataka! My admiration for the courage & principle shown by D.K.Shivakumar & those @INCIndia MLAs who were neither cajoled nor cudgelled into changing their allegiance. We shall overcome one day. https://t.co/L5bp0kAEPt

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— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 23, 2019

The Congress leader exhibited exemplary loyalty and faith in the party until the very last moment of the political tussle, yet he failed to reach out to the dissidents effectively, reported NDTV. “There is time. We are confident that good sense will prevail on my friends. They are valuable. They have been lawmakers five-six times,” he had said last week.

His hopes and dreams faded fast when the results came out and a frustrated Shivakumar made a grim prediction for the BJP. “My friends who backstabbed me will backstab the BJP too. What's the point of all this? We are all going to die anyway. The maximum one can do is drink two extra-large pegs at night,” he said on July 23.