Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal join BJP, to campaign for Uttar Pradesh polls

Bengaluru, Jul 29: A day after Congress staged a nationwide 'Save Democracy' protest, Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy slammed Congress for "dividing" the political parties and "buying MLAs" and questioned their "democratic behaviour" to lure Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs who supported them.

Kumaraswamy, in a media statement, said, "Is it a democratic behaviour to lure MLAs of other parties through political shenanigans and later merging with them?"

"Congress is an expert in dividing political parties and purchase of MLAs," said Kumaraswamy adding, "If you are dividing the like-minded party MLAs through deceit, who would support you?"

He alleged that the term "horse trade" in politics came to be used because of Congress.

Congress had tied to divide the Janata Dal (Secular) in 2004. To this, he added, "To avoid the party being hijacked by the Congress, I had to oust the Congress-JD(S) coalition government through a political coup."

Kumaraswamy further accused, "Haven't the Congress who is making a big noise about the purchase of MLAs divided the JD(S) in the past? Is it not a fact that for the sake of one Rajya Sabha seat, the Congress government in Karnataka purchased eight JD(S) MLAs?"

Both -- Congress and BJP -- are "criminals" in purchase matter, he added.

Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil after simmering differences between Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot came out in the open. Pilot was removed as the Deputy Chief Minister and the state unit chief of Congress.

The Congress has accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading to bring down the Gehlot government. The BJP has rejected the allegations.

Bengaluru, Jul 26: A total of 5,199 new COVID-19 cases and 82 deaths were reported from Karnataka on Sunday, the state's health department said.

With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state stands at 96,141, including 58,417 active cases and 35,838 recoveries.
So far, 1,878 deaths have been reported from Karnataka.

Meanwhile, India reported a spike of 48,661 cases and 705 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

A total of 9,46,777 tests have been done so far and the number of tests per million in the national capital stands at 49,830.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 13,85,522, including 4,67,882 active cases, 8,85,577 cured/discharged/migrated, and 32,063 deaths, it added.