Congress offers support to JD(S) to form government in Karnataka

NEW DELHI: In a bid to keep the BJP from coming to power in Karnataka, the Congress on Tuesday offered support to the JD(S) for government formation in the southern state.

With no party getting a clear majority in the 224-member assembly after several rounds of counting of votes, the Congress preemptively made the move to ally with the HD Deve Gowda-led JD(S) and deny BJP the chance to form the next government in Karnataka.

"We accept the mandate of the people. We bow our heads to the verdict. We don’t have numbers to form government. The Congress has offered to support JD(S) to form government," Karnataka Congress leader G Parameshwara told reporters after a meeting with central Congress leaders.



Flanked by senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot and Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara announced that the outgoing chief minister will meet with Governor Vajubhai Vala at 4pm today and stake claim to form the government as the possibility of a hung assembly looms large.

As the final figures trickled in and it became apparent that the BJP might not cross the halfway mark, Congress leaders quickly got in touch with the JD(S) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his son and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

"We had a telephonic conversation with Deve Gowda ji and Kumaraswamy. They have accepted our offer. Hopefully, we will be together," said Azad.

"We (Congress and JDS) ) are jointly meeting the Governor in the evening today," Congress leader KC Venugopal told ANI separately.

The BJP today emerged as the single largest party, bagging 15 seats and leading in 91 constituencies, leaving the ruling Congress way behind, latest trends available showed. The Congress has won 28 of the 222 seats for which polling was held, while it is leading in 49 others. The JD(S) has won seven constitutiencies and its candidates are ahead of their rivals in 31. If the number seats the two parties have won and where they are leading is taken into account, they could together end up with 115 seats, three more than the magic figure of 112.

Meanwhile, BJP's CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa who won by a landslide from the Shikaripura seat, was planning to call on PM Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah in Delhi and invite them for the swearing-in of the new government in Karnataka, a BJP spokesperson told IANS. It is unclear now whether he would proceed to the national capital following this development.

If it forms a government in Karnataka, the BJP and its allies would govern 22 of the country's 29 states, whereas the Congress would be reduced to being in power in only three states -- Punjab, Mizoram and Puducherry.