india

Updated: May 23, 2019 18:29 IST

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance began the day by completing a year in power and hoping that the coalition would do well in the results of the Lok Sabha elections as well as the bypolls to the two assembly seats. And then the verdict filtered in.

Exactly a year after chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and deputy chief minister G Parameshwara of the Congress were sworn in, the coalition could barely manage to win three of the 28 Lok Sabha in the state.

In the assembly bypolls, too, it won one of the two seats, when the Congress had won both in last year’s bypolls. The reduced numbers, at present the coalition has the support of 118 MLAs and the sheer scale of the loss in the Lok Sabha polls, where the BJP won 24 seats has struck a heavy blow.

The results proved that the coalition had failed to convince even its own workers about the need to come together, helping the BJP better its 2014 tally of 17 seats. This was the highest number of seats the saffron party has ever won in the state, and the highest number of seats won by any party in the state since 1989.

The partners relied on the arithmetic of their combined vote shares in the 2018 assembly elections. However, it was clear that they were unable to address the bitter rivalry among their rank-and-file even in the Old Mysuru region, where the BJP was a relatively marginal force.

The partners managed just three seats from this region – Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Bangalore Rural – and did not even open their account in any other region of the state.

The campaign during the election had been fractious and repeated statements from Congress leaders claiming that former chief minister Siddaramaiah was still their chief minister had intensified the distrust between the two parties.

In January, a rebellion had broken out in the Congress, as four of its MLAs went “missing”. One of these MLAs became the BJP candidate Umesh Jadhav, who deafeated Mallikarjun Kharge in the Gulbarga seat. Another, Ramesh Jarkiholi, said on April 23 that he was set to quit the party and was only waiting for a suitable time.

On Monday, senior Congress leader R Roshan Baig had hit out at the party after exit polls aired by news channels predicted a big win for the BJP. One senior Congress minister admitted to HT that this might be an indication that he might join the BJP.

Speaking to the media, former chief minister and BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa said it was time for the coalition to make clear its intentions of whether it will hold on to power.

“Congress and JD(S) should make it clear what they want to do now. This unnatural alliance, which faced a mortal loss, should tell the people if it wishes to continue. We will wait for their decision and I will not make any comments before that,” he said. “The coalition must respect the views of the people. Let’s wait and see what they decide.”

Speaking to HT, Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the result showed a national wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We respect this verdict and yes we could have coordinated better,” he said. However, Gundu Rao said there was no question of them voluntarily dissolving the government.

“We have won these seats in an election and we have the numbers to prove a majority. We will discuss over the next few days what has to be done, but we are not going to withdraw support,” Gundu Rao said.

Though the clamour from the BJP has increased for the coalition to dissolve the numbers are still in its favour. After Thursday’s results, the BJP has 105 MLAs out of 224. The coalition has 118 MLAs – 79 of the Congress, 37 of the JD(S), one BSP MLA and one independent. Another independent MLA, who is currently non-aligned is likely to go with the BJP should it need his support.

A senior Congress leader admitted that the party expected both independents to join the BJP. Even then the BJP would have 107 MLAs, six short of a simple majority. It would require the effective strength of the House to be reduced to 213 to stake a claim, which means another 11 MLAs will have to defect from the coalition if it does not voluntarily dissolve the government.

Even as JD(S) leaders were in a huddle at party president and former PM H D Deve Gowda’s residence, party spokesperson and MLC T A Saravana said the party respected the people’s verdict and would discuss the next course of action after internal discussions.