Belying several exit polls that predicted a hung assembly, the Congress stormed to power on its own in Karnataka after 10 years, knocking the BJP off its only southern perch on Saturday as voters decisively backed the grand old party desperately seeking electoral revival ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As the results from the May 10 election rolled in, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat - the second loss for the BJP after Himachal Pradesh in December last year.
The Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the 224 assembly seats in the state, comfortably over the magic number of 113, and the BJP in 64, a sharp drop from its tally of 104 in 2018, according to trends on the Election Commission website. The JD-S, which had hoped to be kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats, down from 37 last time.
With a much-needed victory in the crucial southern state in the Congress bag, celebrations broke out at its offices across the country. It was a bitterly contested, often vitriolic election campaign punctuated by Bajrang Dal, Bajrang Bali, corruption and intense debates on the state government scrapping 4 per cent reservation for OBC Muslims and issues such as the hijab.
For the Congress, looking to position itself as the main opposition player in 2024, this was the moment they had been waiting for. "This is the victory of janata janardhan'," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on the party's performance in his home state. Besides the corruption plank and its guarantees, what also worked in the Congress' favour was the Muslim vote, which accounted for nearly 13 per cent of the electorate, party leaders said.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra made a lot of difference. "The Bharat Jodo Yatra was the Sanjeevini for the party," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said. The Congress' win in Karnataka also gave a fillip to the opposition with several leaders, including from the JD-U, CPI-M, TMC and PDP, hailing it.