Amid talks of mid-term elections to the Legislative Assembly, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily on Saturday said the party had suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections because of its seat-sharing arrangement with the Janata Dal (S).

Speaking to presspersons at Chickballapur, Mr. Moily claimed that the Congress would have had prospects of winning 15 Lok Sabha constituencies, including Chickballapur, if it had gone it alone. While the leaders of the two parties came together to form the alliance, the chemistry among workers and supporters was not positive, and this resulted in a shaky alliance on the ground and limited vote transfer to the Congress, Mr. Moily said.

Mr. Moily’s remarks come after former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met party president Rahul Gandhi early this week and reportedly told him that the alliance was damaging the party in the State.

In the 2019 general elections, the Congress and the JD(S) won just one seat each in Karnataka. In 2014, the two parties contested separately and the Congress won nine, and the JD (S) two, seats.

The former Chief Minister said the Congress’ objective should not be only ensuring the survival of the government. It should also focus on strengthening its organisation. The party has not conducted a review of its defeat in the elections, he claimed.

Referring to former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s comment, withdrawn later, on mid-term polls, he said there was no consistency in the JD(S) patriarch’s statements. “No MLA is ready to go for mid-term polls. Moreover, the people also won’t be in favour of mid-term elections, as frequent elections impede development works,” he said.

Reacting to Mr. Moily words, JD(S) leader A.H. Vishwanath told a private television channel that the Congress should consider withdrawing its support of the government if it feels that it suffered poll defeat because of the tie-up.