Congress Leaders Celebrate Karnataka Election Results

Karnataka election results have given the Congress much-needed momentum ahead of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls later this year followed by the big battle for Lok Sabha in 2024.

At 11:30am on Saturday, the grand old party was leading on 119 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, comfortably past the majority mark of 113. The BJP was leading on 72, while the Janata Dal (Secular) was leading on 26. The latter performed better than expected but party leader HD Kumaraswamy’s hopes to play kingmaker, and perhaps the king like the last time, were dashed with the Congress getting a majority.

“We will come to power on our own strength. The Congress lead will increase,” said former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is a contender for the post this time as well. “No matter how many times Narendra Modi and Amit Shah do rallies in Karnataka, it will not have any impact. We said that even if Modi comes, nothing will work. And see that has happened.”

Echoing his senior party colleague, Sachin Pilot said: “The Congress has the majority. We will have a thumping victory. The slogan of ‘40% commission government’ given by us was accepted by the public. It was a major issue raised by us to defeat the BJP. People accepted it and gave majority to the Congress.”

Action now shifts to who the next Karnataka chief minister will be, with the race tight between Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, who had said this would be his last election.

The Congress campaign had, by and large, focussed on local issues and was also run by its local leaders initially. Central leaders like party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined in subsequently.

The election was also a prestige battle for the grand old party with a Kannadiga Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi district, at its helm as the national president.