BJP decimates Congress-JD(S), sets eye on Karnataka

The humiliating defeat of the Congress-JD(S) combine in the Lok Sabha elections with the coalition partners winning a seat each has put the year-old coalition government on the exit mode in Karnataka.
The BJP, which won a stunning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, is the largest party in the assembly with 105 seats, having won one of the bypolls on Thursday. It needs eight MLAs to form a government for a simple majority of 113 in a 224-member House.The fall of the dissidence-riven government of CM HD Kumaraswamy is imminent — it’s a question of when, not if.

The biggest winner is state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa. “We’ll wait for two days for the Congress and JD(S) to spell out their decision on continuing in office. If they don’t, then we’ll take a decision,” a jubilant Yeddyurappa told reporters. While a good show by the BJP was expected, nobody took Yeddyurappa seriously when he said BJP would win 22 seats.

Coalition leaders go into huddle; JD(S) to wait & watch
The combined might of Congress and JD(S) was expected to fetch better results than the 11seats of 2014. The coalition was decimated by the inherent weakness in the coalition arithmetic — both compete for the same set of voters, especially in Old Mysore region — the lack of integration of the two parties’ worker base at the ground level combined with Modi wave and ‘nationalism’ fervour.
Every possible effort will be made to keep the government intact. Defeated JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda was closeted with son HD Kumaraswamy and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao to work out a survival plan. One alternative, offered by the Congress, is to replace HDK with a Dalit candidate from the Congress and offer the deputy CM’s post to JD(S), possibly Gowda’s other son, HD Revanna.
The JD(S), despite speculation that HDK would resign, has decided to not throw in the towel. It will wait for BJP to poach Congress and JD(S) MLAs and pull down the government or prepare for a snap mid-term poll. Yeddyurappa, who, in the past year, made attempts to lure Congress MLAs to the party, was in no hurry to show his hand on Thursday. The expectation is that the government will fall on its own with many disgruntled elements ready to switch to the BJP. With the Kundagol bypoll win by the Congress, the combine now has 116 MLAs.