New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday following the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa ahead of the trust vote in assembly, stating that "PM is corruption" and there is no institution "worthy of respect of the Prime Minister, Amit Shah and the RSS".
Gandhi, who addressed the media here shortly after Yeddyurappa announced his resignation, as the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) could not muster the numbers in the state assembly, said the Congress will work with other opposition parties to defeat the BJP.
He accused Modi of promoting corruption in Karnataka to gain support for the BJP, which emerged the single-largest party amid split verdict thrown up by the May 12 assembly election.
Gandhi referred to attempts of horse-trading, including purported telephonic conversations of some BJP leaders to get support of the MLAs of Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), who have formed a post-poll coalition to form the government.
Gandhi said people saw "how the Prime Minister authorised directly for buying MLAs in Karnataka from our party and from the JD-S", and added that Modi's talks of fighting corruption are a "blatant lie".
"He is corruption. He is doing everything to subvert this nation and he is doing it across the board. There are phone conversations of MLAs being approached for purchase by the BJP and that was directly authorised from Delhi," he said.
The Congress leader said he is "very proud that the opposition has stood together and defeated the BJP and we will continue to do so".
Gandhi accused the BJP of disrespecting the proceedings of the Karnataka Assembly, saying the national anthem was not played after Yeddyurappa announced his resignation.
"Did you notice that after the entire exercise in the Vidhan Sabha in Karnataka, the BJP legislators and the (pro-tem) Speaker chose to get up and leave the House before the national anthem? In a way, this is what we are fighting today... The idea that you can rubbish every single institution in this country."
Gandhi alleged that Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh believe that every institution can be destroyed and trampled upon.
"You can disrespect anybody in this country simply because you happen to be in power? And the BJP and the RSS does it again and again. That there is no institution in this country that is worthy of the respect of the Prime Minister, Amit Shah and the RSS. They believe that every single institution can be destroyed and stepped upon by them," he said.
He hoped that the BJP and RSS will learn a lesson from the developments in Karnataka where Governor Vajubhia Vala had invited the BJP to form government, even as the Congress and JD-S had stated that they together cross the half-way mark.
"I hope the BJP and the RSS learnt a lesson from this that the institutions of this country, the will of the people of this country cannot be disrespected."
Gandhi accused the BJP leaders of disrespecting the mandate of the people of Karnataka, Goa and Manipur, where the Congress had emerged as the single-largest party.
"I am very proud to say that they have been shown that in India power is not everything, money is not everything, corruption is not everything. In India, the will of the people is everything," Gandhi said.
Gandhi expressed his best wishes to the people of Karnataka and to members of his party and those of JD-S "for defending what is much more than simply the election of Karnataka".
"They have explained to the people and we have explained to the people in the BJP and the RSS that there are limits to your arrogance, there are limits to how you are trying to run this country," he said.