Arun Jaitley lashes out at Congress in Rajya Sabha
Congress had been complaining against the BJP for "stealing mandate" ever since the latter had claimed to form government in both Goa and Manipur.
"It was a hung assembly in Goa and Manipur and it is natural that no one party has a simple majority. It is clear that there were two options for the Governor who could either call the single largest party or a minority led alternative alliance who had the magic figures," Jaitley said.
In Goa BJP got 17 seats to Congress's 13 while in Manipur BJP could manage to win 21 seats in the recently concluded assembly election 2017.
However in both the states, the BJP was supported by other minor parties and independents to form the government.
Referring to the hearing in Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jaitley said: "Even the Supreme Court rejected the plea of Congress as it said it would take two minutes if Congress proves the number."
He even said that the Congress did not even claim to form the government in Goa.
"It is the principle of democracy to form the government of parties touching the magic figure," the Finance Minister added.
Jaitley even cited an example of Jharkhand's hung assembly in 2005 where JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) was called by the Governor to form the government with Congress's support though BJP was the single largest party.
Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday attacked BJP saying that the saffron party was killing democracy.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi echoed Chidambaram's words on Tuesday and alleged that BJP was forming government in the two states with money powers.
While former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was sworn in as Goa CM on Tuesday, N Biren Singh took oath as Manipur CM on Wednesday.
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