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Updated: Dec 09, 2019 22:49 IST

BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday welcomed the outcome of Karnataka assembly bypolls, swept by his party, saying the result reflected voters’ reaction to “opportunist politics”.

The ruling BJP won 12 out of the 15 seats where bypolls were held, thus securing a comfortable majority in the Karnataka assembly.

Fadnavis said the voters rejected parties who “stole” mandate for the sake of power, apparently referring to the Congress and the JD(S) joining hands to keep the BJP, which had emerged as the single-largest political formation after the 2018 Karnataka assembly polls, out of power.

“In the very first chance they get, this is how voters react to opportunist politics & stealing of mandate by rejected parties by coming together for the sake of power! He further said, #KarnatakaBypolls result proves that people wont tolerate if someone tries to play with public mandate & wish!” he said in a statement issued from his official Twitter account @dev_fadnavis.

The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa over the saffron party’s stellar performance in the byelections.

“Many congratulations to BJP India BJP Karnataka karyakartas, Hon Narendra Modi ji, Hon Amit Shah ji and Yediyurappa ji. #BJPSweepsKarnataka,” Fadnavis said.

The bypolls in the 15 assembly constituencies were held on December 5 and the result was announced on Monday. The Congress, which held 12 of these 15 seats, won only two, while the JD(S) drew a blank. An independent also won.

In Maharashtra, the BJP and the Shiv Sena had jointly fought the October 21 assembly polls, but the latter quit the saffron alliance over differences on power-sharing, especially on the issue of sharing the chief minister’s post.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party later joined hands with the Congress and the NCP to form Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state.

The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra, winning 105 seats in the 288-member assembly.