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Sunday, May 25, 2008
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Karnataka results crucial to Congress

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: On the eve of the election results to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the mood at the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here on Saturday was sombre.

After the electoral reverses in the last four years in major States like Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal and Nagaland, the party is keeping its fingers crossed for a victory in Karnataka. On the other hand, an upbeat BJP “prabhari” for Karnataka, Arun Jaitley said his party was expecting to win upwards of 100 seats and “heading towards a majority.”

A senior Congress leader indicated that if the BPJ did not get the advantage of “an under-current [of sympathy],” the Congress could hope for a simple majority. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) was likely to do “better than initially expected,” and if that happened, the possibility of a hung Assembly became stronger, the leader said.

The leader, who did not want to be named, said that if the party did not win a simple majority, it would prefer to sit in the Opposition than go in for any alliance to form the government. He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had said as much during her electoral tours in Karnataka. The BJP also sounded a similar note with the party chief Rajnath Singh asserting on Saturday there was “no question of extending or seeking support, as the party would get a majority.”

Reports from observers

Ms. Gandhi has been receiving reports from various AICC observers, who camped at Karnataka during the three-phase voting. On Friday, general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh gave his report to Ms. Gandhi.

Inflation was an issue in the urban areas, as well as the issue of terrorism, party sources said.

With Assembly elections scheduled to be held in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Chattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir later this year, the Karnataka results are crucial to the Congress that is desperately looking for a victory in the run-up to the general elections next year.

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