Bengaluru: Shocked by its worst defeat in parliamentary elections, in which it managed to retain only a lone seat in Karnataka, the Congress has blamed the “polarisation” of votes and an unseen Modi wave for the spectacular performance of rival BJP, which won 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the southern state.
“Instead of focusing on real issues like joblessness and rural distress, the BJP succeeded in polarising the electorate by whipping up a frenzy in the name of national security following February’s Pulwama terror attack and the air strikes on Balakot in Pakistan thereafter,” Congress’ state spokesman K E Radhakrishna said.
As part of a pre-poll seat-sharing arrangement with its ruling ally Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), the Congress contested 21 seats, but lost 20, including eight it won in the 2014 general elections.
The lone seat won by the party is Bangalore Rural, where DK Suresh defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ashwath Narayangowada by 2,06,870 votes. Suresh is the younger brother of state Minister DK Shivakumar, who belongs to the politically dominant Vokkaliga community (Gowdas).
Even the JD-S won only one seat, Hassan, the home turf of party supremo HD Deve Gowda.
Admitting that the party failed to notice the Modi wave as it was an undercurrent, the official said polarisation of the electorate and “money power” helped the BJP to retain the 17 seats it had won in 2014 and wrest eight from the Congress and the JD-S. — IANS
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