Bengaluru: Congress was poised to win power in Karnataka, ousting the BJP from its only southern perch on May 13 in a boost to the grand old party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
As results from the May 10 elections made the BJP’s defeat increasingly apparent, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai virtually conceded defeat and said the party had not been able to make the mark in spite of a lot of effort put in by everyone, including the Prime Minister and workers of the party.
The Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in the state, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64, according to latest trends on the Election Commission website.
The JD (S), which was hoping to be a kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats.
With a much-needed victory tantalisingly close in the crucial southern state, celebrations broke out at the opposition Congress headquarters in Bengaluru and Delhi as party workers danced to drumbeats and burst firecrackers.
This is the victory of ‘janata janardhan’, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on the party’s performance in his home state. “All our leaders have worked unitedly and people have voted for our guarantees,” Kharge added.
It was a bitterly contested, often vitriolic election campaign punctuated by Bajrang Dal, Bajrang Bali, corruption and intense debates on the state government scrapping 4 per cent reservation for OBC Muslims and issues such as the hijab.
For the Congress, desperately looking to reverse its electoral fortunes and position itself as the main opposition player in 2024, this was the moment they had been waiting for. This result in Karnataka elections will be a stepping stone for Congress victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, said Senior Leader Siddaramaiah, who could be the state’s next Chief Minister.
I hope Rahul Gandhi will become the country’s Prime Minister in 2024, he added. KPCC President D. K. Shivakumar, who is the other contender for the Chief Minister’s post, was equally effusive in his praise of the Gandhi family.
“I can’t forget Sonia Gandhi visiting me after the BJP people jailed me,” an emotional Shivakumar told reporters, adding that he had told the Gandhi family and Kharge that he would deliver Karnataka to them.
Attacking the Basavaraj Bommai-led administration months before the elections, the Congress alleged that it was a 40 per cent commission government. It also announced five key pre-poll guarantees — including 200 units of free power and 10 kgs of rice free to every member of a BPL household and said it would approve them in its first cabinet meeting if voted to power.
Besides the corruption plank and its guarantees, what also worked in the Congress’ favour was the Muslim vote, which accounted for nearly 13 per cent of the electorate, said party leaders.