Karnataka & Maharashtra ruled by BJP: Rahul Gandhi

Assertion: In an election speech in Delhi on 17 November 2013, Congress party Vice President Rahul Gandhi made the following assertion:

Go…go to the BJP-ruled states…in Karnataka, in Maharashtra, and there they create tension…

Facts

First, let’s look at the past. The BJP came to power in Maharashtra as a coalition partner with the Shiv Sena in March 1995 and ruled till 1999. This was the only time the BJP was in power in Maharashtra.

Likewise, the BJP in Karnataka came to power for the first time as a coalition partner of the Janata Dal (Secular) in 2006. Subsequently, it managed to form a Government on its own strength in 2008 and ruled till May 2013.

Coming to the present, Maharashtra has been ruled for nearly 15 years by the Congress-NCP combine. The same coalition continues to rule the state, with the Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan as its Chief Minister.

In the State Assembly elections of May 2013 held in Karnataka, the BJP was defeated, and the Congress party emerged victorious with a comfortable margin. It then declared Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister, who continues to rule the state.

Verdict

It is therefore clear that Rahul Gandhi‘s assertion that Maharashtra and Karnataka are currently ruled by the BJP is completely false. Also, his claim that because the BJP is ruling these states, it is creating tensions there, flows from the same, original false claim, and its also false.

IndiaFacts Fact Meter verdict: False.