Bhargavi Kerur

Bangalore: The Karnataka Congress, unable to digest the assembly poll defeat, is trying hard to come to terms with reality.

Upset and desperate party workers are trying in vain to stop the BJP, which has mustered 115 MLAs, two more than the magic figure of 113, from coming to power. A faction of the Congress led by senior leader Siddaramaiah initiated talks with the six independents on Monday requesting them not to extend support to the BJP.

“The people of Karnataka have not given a clear mandate to the BJP too. We waited for the elections to come to power, but that did not happen. Now, we are making a different effort,” Siddaramaiah said.

On the other hand, state Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who had said on Monday he would wait and watch, has resigned to sitting in the opposition on the high command’s directive.

A gloomy Kharge was sulking at his residence in Bangalore with select party leaders, silently watching on a regional TV channel the BJP’s effort to achieve the magic number.

“I cannot understand how a few of our powerful members lost this time. It is shocking,” he said.

SM Krishna, who resigned as Maharashtra governor to lead the Congress campaign in Karnataka, is keeping away from the media.

“He is disturbed,” his personal assistant Puttuswamy said.

The party office here is empty. “We are naturally upset. We were hoping to form the government,” general secretary VS Ugrappa said.

The Congress blamed the election commission for its failure.

“Over 20%, that is 58 lakh, names on the voting list turned out to be bogus and 20 lakh people with election cards could not make it,” he said.

Source : DNA