New Delhi/Bangalore, May 8 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday humbly accepted its defeat in Karnataka and attributed the loss to the spilt in votes.
BJP”s General Secretary and in-charge of Karnataka, Dharmendra Pradhan, said that the party in the initial stage had a fair hint about the consequences due to split in votes.
“We humbly accept the mandate given to us by the people of Karnataka. Prima-facie, the cause for the defeat of the party and the loss of mandate is due to the split in votes. The party had some inkling about the likely outcome of the polls,” he said.
Former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has effectively split the BJP”s vote, but has failed to convert that into gains for his newly-floated Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).
Moreover, the BJP after five years of turbulent rule in Karnataka has fared poorly even in urban strongholds like Bangalore, which has voted for the Congress.
The Congress Party has returned to power in Karnataka with an absolute majority.
The party has crossed the magic number, winning 121 seats in the 224 member assembly.
The BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) were in neck and neck race with both winning 40 seats each.
Yeddyurappa”s Karnataka Janatha Party won six seats, while the Independents and others have won 16 seats.
Prominent winners in the assembly elections are: Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar of BJP, Janata Dal (Secular) State President, H.D. Kumaraswamy, KJP leader Yeddyurappa, former Union Minister and Kannada Cine Star, M.H.Ambareesh of Congress, Deputy Chief Minister and BJP candidate, R. Ashoka, BSR Congress Party Chief and former Minister, B. Sriramulu, Congress candidate Dr. Ajay Dharam Singh, son of former Chief Minister Dharam Singh, former Chief Minister S.Bangarappa”s son Madhu Bangarappa of the JDS, Priyanka M. Kharge, daughter of Union Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress and former Union Minister V. Srinivasa Prasad of Congress. Sitting JD(S) MP N. Chaluvaraya Swamy has also won.
The prominent losers are Deputy Chief Minister Eshwarappa of the BJP, KPCC President Dr. G. Parameshwara, former Union Minister C.M.Ibrahim and Anita Kumaraswamy.
Elections in Karnataka were conducted for 223 seats. Elections in one constituency – Periyapatna — was deferred to May 28 due to the death of the BJP candidate. (ANI)