Karnataka assembly election results: Congress grins; BJP sulks

“Nafrat ki baazar band ho gayi hai, mohabbat ki dukaan khul gayi hai.” (Market of hatred has shut down; shop of love has opened). Congress had performed extremely well across Karnataka except in the coastal region. Congress will now focus on Telangana. This is the second victory march after Himachal Pradesh, said Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

The new CM will be elected by CLP on Sunday at Hilton Hotel and all arrangements for the oath-taking ceremony are being made at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. The major task ahead of the Congress party is to decide whether it will be Siddaramaiah or D K Shivakumar? On May 17, Shivakumar would be completing 60 years. Will the CM post be the gift for him from AICC or not remains to be seen? But then there are some ongoing ED cases against him. If these cases are speeded up, there could be a fresh disturbance in the state.

Another possibility is that the AICC may pick up Siddaramaiah (75) as CM for the first two-and-a- half years and once Shivakumar is out of ED cases, he may be asked to lead the state for the remaining tenure.

Till then he may be asked to continue as KPCC president. The BJP has “not been able to make the mark”, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said conceding defeat as Congress won in 137 of the 224 assembly seats in the state, comfortably over the magic number of 113. The BJP won 65. The JD-S, which was hoping to be kingmaker, got 18.

Bommai said the “much organised” election strategy of the Congress party might have been one of the major reasons for its win. “I accept the mandate of the people with utmost respect. I take responsibility for this BJP’s defeat, no one else has the responsibility,” he said.

Meanwhile, PM Modi thanked those who supported BJP in Karnataka polls, saying the party will serve the state with even more vigour in times to come.