Bengaluru: Congress has accepted the defeat in Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 but the party has extended support to the JD(S) to form the government in Karnataka. BJP which looked set to form the next government in Karnataka as the saffron party inched towards the halfway mark appears to be in trouble now.
BJP is likely to finish short of a few seats to achieve magic number of 112. This means JD(S) has become a kingmaker in this situation. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has got in touch with JD (S) chief Deve Gowda and offered Chief Minister post to the party. JD(S) core committee meeting has been called in Bangalore to discuss the future course of action.According to Congress leader KC Venugopal, “Congress and JD(S) are jointly meeting the Governor in the evening today”.
BJP leaders and workers have started celebrating after Karnataka results. BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa will be reaching Delhi around 3 pm. According to media reports Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing party workers and leaders today.
Counting of votes is still underway for Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018. Initially, it turned out to be a neck-and-neck fight between BJP and Congress, but BJP was always found leading from the beginning. BJP performance in Karnataka is being seen as a huge victory for BJP in the run-up to Lok Sabha Polls, and a huge setback for Congress President Rahul Gandhi who had campaigned extensively in the state.
Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy took to Twitter and expressed his happiness over the verdict. He said that it seems his prediction was coming true and that he would hope to see his ‘good friend’ BS Yeddyurappa as Karnataka Chief Minister on May 18. At 2 pm, BJP was leading on 106 seats, and Congress was ahead at just 74. JD(S) has performed very well leading at 41 seats.
“If Congress had gone into an alliance with the JD(S), the result would have been different. Very different,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a tweet.