BATTERED by a string of losses nationwide and facing four key state polls later this year, the Congress Saturday registered a resounding win in the elections to the 16th Karnataka Assembly with victories in 136 seats and a 43% vote share — its best performance in the state since 1989.
The party’s surge, from 69 seats in the outgoing Assembly, was on the back of a strong anti-incumbency wave against the ruling BJP in the face of a last-ditch, high-decibel push led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP leadership.
The ruling BJP, which held 118 seats in the Assembly, was reduced to 65, the regional Janata Dal (Secular) party’s tally fell from 32 seats to 19.
The Congress’s vote share registered a seven percent lead over the BJP’s 35.9 in the course of the win. The JD(S) which won 37 seats with an 18% vote share in 2018 recorded a five percent drop in vote share to 13 percent.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Yatra spent 22 days in the state and who campaigned extensively, thanked the people of Karnataka, the party’s workers and leaders.
“In the Karnataka elections, the power of crony capitalists was on one side and the strength of the poor was on the other. The strength defeated the power. This will now happen in every state. The Congress party stood with the poor of Karnataka and fought the election on their issues. The best thing was that we did not fight the battle using hate or bad language. We fought with love…And the people of Karnataka have shown that this country likes love,” he said.
“In Karnataka, nafrat ki bazaar (market of hate) has closed down’ and ‘mohabbat ki dukaanein’ (shops of love) have opened,” he said.
Shortly after the verdict was clear in the evening, the Prime Minister congratulated the Congress for its victory. “My best wishes to them in fulfilling people’s aspirations. I thank all those who have supported us in the Karnataka elections. I appreciate the hard work of BJP Karyakartas. We shall serve Karnataka with even more vigour in the times to come,” he said in a tweet.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the poll verdict had resulted in a “BJP-mukt south India”.
The Congress party has called for a meeting of its new legislature members Sunday. The CLP meeting is likely to decide on a leader for the legislature party who would become the new Chief Minister. Former CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D K Shivakumar are the frontrunners. The Congress is attempting to bring about an agreement between the two leaders for a shared tenure over five years, according to Congress sources.
The BJP’s defeat was emphatic: As many as 12 of the 25 BJP ministers who contested the polls lost including high-profile ministers like Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar; Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol and Law Minister J C Madhuswamy.
Behind the Congress win, were massive gains in the Mumbai Karnataka region where the party is in a position to win 33 of the 50 seats — unlike in 2018 where it won only 17 against the BJP’s 31; in the Hyderabad Karnataka region where the party won 26 of 40 seats (against 21 in 2018), and Old Mysore in southern Karnataka where the party has 43 of 64 seats compared to 20 in 2018.
The BJP has held its fortress in the coastal Karnataka region — where the politics is communalized — picking up as many as 13 of 19 seats compared to 16 of 19 in 2018. The BJP has also done well in Bengaluru winning 15 of 28 seats compared to 11 in 2018.
The Congress win in Karnataka came on the back of a concentrated campaign by the party against corruption in the BJP government amid allegations of 40 percent commissions for government contracts and the promise of five guarantees. These included Rs 2000 per month for women heads of households and Rs 3000 for unemployed graduates.
The Congress guarantees are widely believed to have struck a chord among the electorate given the refrain of allegations of corruption against the government and discontent in a large section over the rising cost of living, including LPG prices.
The Congress also tapped into a perception – which it also helped build – that the BJP wasn’t treating its Lingayat leaders well. They cited the cold shoulder to former CM B S Yediyurappa, one of the party’s tallest leaders, despite the Lingayat community being the bulwark of the party base.
This is seen as also chipping away at the BJP’s base – the Lingayats make up nearly 17 percent of the population and reside in the Mumbai Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions.
Two high-profile exits of BJP Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi to the Congress on the eve of the polls also benefited the Congress although Shettar lost in the Hubli Dharwad Central seat while Savadi won the Athani seat.
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, the only winner in his home district of Haveri (six seats) from the Shiggaon seat, said he would take the blame for the BJP defeat. He announced his resignation after the defeat.
Bommai had resorted to a series of social engineering steps at the end of the BJP tenure to change quotas for various communities which did not help. The BJP eventually relied on the Prime Minister who carried out a blitzkrieg of a campaign over the last 10 days leading to the May 10 polls.
“I have said repeatedly that there will be no effect from the repeated visits by PM Modi, (Amit) Shah and (BJP president JP) Nadda. The state had not seen such a corrupt government in the past and the result is reflective of this,” former Karnataka CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said Saturday. He added that the party will implement all its poll guarantees.
The Congress party is expected to hold a meeting of its legislators Sunday to elect the new leader of the legislature party. Former CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D K Shivakumar are in a close battle to be the next CM.
KPCC chief D K Shivakumar broke down after registering the impact of the Congress win. “The party cadre have worked hard and it is the result of collective leadership. I thank all the leaders including Siddaramaiah,” Shivakumar said.
The KPCC chief also claimed that he had sacrificed a lot for the Congress. “I chose to be in jail rather than be arm-twisted,” he said, referring to his arrest in 2019 by the ED on charges of money laundering even as he is also being probed for aspects of political financing.
Yediyurappa asked party workers not to lose heart over the defeat. “Loss and win is nothing new for BJP. We started with two MLAs and built a government. Party workers should not lose heart. Under the leadership of PM Modi the BJP has given pro-people governance. We respect the verdict of the people,” he said.
DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge, Randeep Surjewala and others during the press meet at KPCC, Bengaluru. (Express photos by Jithendra M) 
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