Karnataka Bharatiya Janata President BS Yeddyurappa said on Thursday that the electorate has “taught the Congress a befitting lesson”, after Election Commission trends showed the saffron party leading in 24 out of 28 seats in the state.
The Congress is leading in just two seats – Bengaluru Rural and Chamarajanagar. Its alliance partner, the Janata Dal (Secular), is ahead in the Hassan seat. An Independent candidate is leading on one seat.
“Many stalwarts, including former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union Ministers Veerappa Moily and KH Muniyappa, have lost terribly,” Yeddyurappa said according to The News Minute. “The people have taught a befitting lesson to Siddaramaiah, who spoke arrogantly against [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and the BJP.”
“Besides, massive corruption in the coalition government, the rampant discrepancies in transfer of officials have all resulted in the people losing confidence in the Congress and JD(S) coalition,” he added.
In the 2014 General Elections, the BJP had won 17 seats in Karnataka while the Congress got nine and JD(S) won two seats and the Congress nine.
Elections were also held for the Chincholi and Kundgol Assembly seats. Leads from these seats show the Congress ahead in Kundgol and the BJP in Chincholi.
BJP’s victory is likely to trigger the fall of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in the state. There has been turmoil in the coalition government over the last several months. The Congress had on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to senior leader Roshan Baig after he said party leaders in Karnataka should be held responsible if the Congress performs poorly in the Lok Sabha elections. On May 10, Yeddyurappa had said that 20 Congress legislators were disgruntled with their party’s coalition and may quit soon.
However, on Thursday, the state BJP chief said the party has decided to “wait and watch” whether the alliance crumbles.
Before the elections, Yeddyurappa had asserted that the BJP is likely to win over 22 seats due to the popularity of Narendra Modi, the airstrikes in Balakot, and the people’s loss of faith in the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance.
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