Open kidnapping of mandate: Priyanka Gandhi targets BJP over Maharashtra move

New Delhi, Nov 25: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of disregarding the Constitution in Maharashtra and repeating the "game" it played in Karnataka.

"Have we reached the stage of open kidnapping of the mandate?" Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Congress had accused the BJP of poaching MLAs to form the government in Karnataka earlier this year.

Earlier, the Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a "betrayal of people's mandate" and the "illegitimate" government formation will self-destruct.

The month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically on Saturday with the BJP's Fadnavis returning as the chief minister, backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

NCP's Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister.