In the biggest twist in the Karnataka Assembly election verdict that could possibly halt the BJP’s victory march, the Congress is reached out to the JD(S), offering it an unconditional support to form the government.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi reportedly called JD(S) HD Deve Gowda and talked about the possible alliance in the state. The party sources said that the UPA chairperson has been constantly in touch with the JD(S) leadership.
The Congress offered the post of chief minister to the JD(S) which the regional party has accepted.
"We had a telephonic conversation with Deve Gowda ji and Kumaraswamy. They have accepted our offer. Hopefully, we will be together," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in Bengaluru.
Congress Karnataka chief G Parameshwara conceded defeat and said, "We accept the mandate of the people. We bow our heads to the verdict."
"We don’t have numbers to form govt. The Congress has offered to support JD(S) to form govt," he said.
Congress leader KC Venugopal said the two parties are meeting the Governor together.
"We (Congress and JDS) are jointly meeting the Governor in the evening today," Venugopal said.
JD(S) spokesperson Danish Ali confirmed to DNA that Kumaraswamy will stake claim to form the government with the help of Congress.
If the Congress-JD(S) alliance takes shape and succeeds in forming the government, it will be a huge setback for the BJP which has emerged as the single largest party but is likely to miss the halfway mark just by a few MLAs. As per the latest trends, BJP's 57 candidates have won and the party is leading in 47 seats. The Congress, placed second in terms of trends/wins, has won 30 seats and is ahead in 47 constituencies, while the JD(S) was leading the table in 27 seats, having already won 11.
Regional outfit Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party has won one seat. Mayawati's BSP and an independent candidate were ahead in one seat each.
A party has to secure 112 seats for a simple majority in the Assembly. Though Karnataka has a 224-member Lower House, polling was held for 222 seats. Polling was deferred for the RR Nagar seat on account of alleged electoral malpractices, it was countermanded in Jayanagar following the death of the BJP candidate.
