Where has 'vishwas' gone? Azad's dig at PM over Karnataka crisis

New Delhi, July 07: A day after over a dozen ruling Congress-JD(S) MLAs resigned in Karnataka, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the BJP had poached the party's MLAs in several states and questioned where had the 'vishwas' (trust) gone.

"Honourable prime minister says 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas'. This sounds good on television but it's not true on the ground," the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha told reporters when asked about the ongoing developments in the Southern state.

The Congress-JD(S) government has plunged into a crisis, with 13 MLAs of the alliance submitting their resignation to the Speaker, 12 of them on Saturday.

"I had said in the presence of the prime minister that in the last four years our government has been toppled in Himachal Pradesh. Decisions have been taken against us in Manipur and Goa.

"You have taken away our MLAs in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and now it is happening in Karnataka. Where is the trust ('vishwas') gone? Where is democracy? People have faith in democracy. People elect their representatives on symbols," he said.

Earlier, addressing newly-elected Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh at an orientation programme, Azad asked them to conduct themselves in a manner that trust and respect in politicians is restored.

"At the time of the freedom struggle, people who came into politics were prepared to sacrifice anything to achieve independence of the county.

"Politics for them was like 'tapsya' (penance). People respected them, emulated their ideals, imbibed their ideas but in the course of time politicians have lost respect. People despise them. The challenge for every politician is to regain the lost glory of the political profession," he said.

Nine MLAs of the Congress and three of JD(S) had reached the office of the speaker of the Karnataka Assembly to put in their papers Saturday and later met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan.

Another Congress MLA, Anand Singh, had submitted his resignation on July 1.

The ruling coalition in Karnataka, which has a strength of 118 in the 224-member assembly, faces the risk of losing its majority if the resignations are accepted.

Ten of the MLAs are now camping at a hotel in Mumbai.

The Congress has alleged that BJP was facilitating their stay there in a bid to destabilise the government in Karnataka.

The Maharashtra BJP claimed Sunday it was not aware of the presence of the MLAs in Mumbai, even as a saffron party leader was spotted at a hotel where the legislators are staying.