Wednesday, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: The beleaguered Congress party on Wednesday delivered the knockout punch to arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by wresting power from it in Karnataka.
The verdict was clear that voters in Karnataka are looking forward to political stability in the state as they gave a massive mandate to the Congress party, helping it win 121 seats in the 224-member state legislative assembly.
Congress surged into lead as soon as counting of votes started and bellied all hopes and predictions that the state could end up electing another hung assembly. BJP, which had emerged as the single largest party in the outgoing assembly by winning 110 seats had to face the ignominy of winning just 40 seats while the Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda also won 40 seats.
“Despite the campaign against UPA, the people of Karnataka have spoken strongly. It’s a defeat of an ideology,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heads the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance government, said.
A visibly elated Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi said she was happy with her party’s win. “We expected to win. It was a joint effort,” she said.
A crestfallen BJP, which was hoping to use Karnataka to expand its roots in south, blamed its former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for playing the spoilsport.
Yeddyurappa led the BJP government for three years before he was forced to quit due to corruption charges. He turned rebel when the party refused to reinstate him as the chief minister and formed his own political outfit Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP).
KJP could not do much, winning just six seats, but split the BJP votes, paving the way for a smooth sailing for the Congress party.
“This accidental fluke victory of the Congress is because of the split in BJP votes,” said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Outgoing chief minister Jagdish Shetter accepted the defeat and announced he would hand over his resignation on Wednesday evening. The Congress party is expected to start the exercise to select the new chief minister in which federal minister Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of opposition in the outgoing assembly S Siddaramaiah have emerged the front runners. A final decision in this regard is expected to be taken by the Sonia Gandhi who as per the Congress tradition would be authorised by the newly elected lawmakers to name their leader.
The state had witnessed the highest ever voting of 71.29 per cent in the Sunday voting. The high voter turnout was being interpreted as the voters’ dissatisfaction with the BJP rule spanning five years in which it gave the state three chief ministers.
Interestingly, both BJP government in Karnataka and the Congress party-led UPA government at the centre were battling corruption charges, the voters settled for the Congress party. Prime Minister Singh admitted that corruption was a major issue.
Apparently the Karnataka voters were not left with much of a choice in the triangular contest. But they settled for the Congress party as unlike the leaders of BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) Congress leaders of Karnataka were not facing any major corruption charges.
Karnataka elections were being drubbed as the quarter final, with elections due in four states later in the year to be followed by the crucial general elections in April and May next year.
By Ajay Jha Chief Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
