Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi leaves the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Friday after a hearing in Karnataka government formation case. (Photo: Pritam Bandyopadhyay)

New Delhi: As the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) alliance geared up for the expected showdown in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Supreme Court order on floor test in Karnataka was a vindication of the party’s stand that the governor acted “unconstitutionally”.

The BJP hit back saying that the Congress’ “double standards” towards the judiciary has been exposed as it was now praising the Supreme Court after insulting it and also attempting to impeach the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Taking to Twitter, Mr Gandhi said the court has called out BJP’s “bluff” of forming a government even without the numbers and alleged that the party will now resort to using money and muscle power to “steal” the mandate.

Mr Gandhi tweeted, “Today’s Supreme Court order, vindicates our stand that Governor

Vajubhai Vala acted unconstitutionally. The BJP’s bluff that it will form the government, even without the numbers, has been called out by the court. Stopped legally, they will now try money and muscle, to steal the mandate.”

Appearing for the party, senior advocate and MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “It is a historic interim order by the apex court of the country. It is historic because directly, with this degree of specificity it is raised for the first time, the extent of rights and discretion of the Governor to call ‘A’ or ‘B’ for government formation immediately after the election.” Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said the Constitution has rejected the “unconstitutional” decision of the Karnataka governor.

“Constitution wins, Democracy restored! B.S. Yeddyurappa does remain a 1 day CM — Constitution rejects an illegitimate CM as also the unconstitutional decision of Governor of Karnataka (sic),” he said on Twitter.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also the BJP’s Karnataka poll in-charge, expressed confidence that the B.S. Yeddyurappa government will prove its majority in the state Assembly on Saturday.  “BJP is ready and confident of winning trust vote in Karnataka. We will prove our majority on the floor of the House,” he tweeted.

BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said, “There is nothing bigger than the mandate. We are all watching the Congress’s conspiracy to undermine the mandate… This is why they went to the court in the middle of the night...There are news paper reports that initially, before the announcement of the Karnataka poll results, the Congress had prepared a petition where they anticipated that the BJP and the JD(S) would come together. They wanted the Supreme Court to direct the governor to invite the single largest party.”

The Supreme Court has ordered that a floor test be held in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 pm on Saturday to ascertain whether newly-appointed BJP chief minister Yeddyurappa enjoys majority in the state. The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats in Karnataka Assembly, was invited by Governor Vajubhai Vala to form the government despite the JD(S)-Congress combine staking claim by citing the support of 117 MLAs.