Bengaluru : H D Kumaraswamy, the son of JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, has accepted the Congress party’s offer to become the Chief Minister. However, BJP is leaving no stone unturned to stake the claim to form the next government. Following his meeting with the Governor, the BJP CM candidate Yeddyurappa said they will prove the majority on the floor of the house.
Earlier, Sonia Gandhi had offered a deal to the JD(S) of creating an alliance with HD Kumaraswamy as the state chief minister. The Congress high command’s decision comes amid the grand old party losing grip as the saffron surge continues unabated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm. This twist in the tale has spoilt the celebrations of BJP cadres on the emergence of the BJP as the single largest party in the state.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was sent to Karntaka to deal with the situation, reached out to JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. Azad has said they will approach the governor later in the evening to form the next government. “We have had a telephonic talk with both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy. They have accepted that JDS will head the government. Hopefully, by this evening, we will go together to the Governor and give the letter in writing to form the government,” said.
JD(S) has said HD Kumaraswamy has accepted the offer to become the next chief minister of Karnataka. Kumaraswamy, who contested from two constituencies, is Deve Gowda’s son.
Following the statements made by the Congress and the JD(S) on their plan to stake claim to form the next government in Karnataka, BJP CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa canceled his visit to Delhi and senior party leaders Prakash Javadekar, JP Nadda, and Dharmendra Pradhan have also rushed to Karnataka to assess the situation on ground.
Congress is likely to get 20 cabinet seats while JD(S) wants 14. The Congress will get deputy chief minister’s post. Both the parties have decided to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the state together.
The results saw the Congress lead in the first hour, but the BJP crawled back and the two parties were neck and neck. However, the BJP, marched forward and crossed the 100-seats mark. The Congress is ahead in over 70 seats. Earlier, it looked like the BJP was well on its way to forming the next government.
Though the exit polls had predicted a close fight, the BJP’s state leadership was fully confident that it would trump Siddaramaiah’s Congress. So much so, that Yeddyurappa even said that he would take the oath on May 17. Yeddyurappa expects the party to bag 125 to 130 seats, which would mean the BJP would comfortably cross the halfway mark of 112 seats. But now with the Congress and the JD(S) coming together, the BJP seems to be short of just a few seats.
Siddaramaiah, however, was equally confident that his party would pass the incumbency test and return to power. In fact, after the election campaign got over, he told his party workers to enjoy the weekend and not worry about the exit polls. He dismissed exit polls as “entertainment”.
BJP is in touch with half a dozen Lingayat leaders of the Congress and these Lingayat leaders will abstain on grounds of Siddaramaih insulting Lingayats.