“We respect the decision of the voters of Haryana and Maharashtra,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Sunday, reacting to the Assembly poll results.
“Though the BJP did not get a majority on its own in Maharashtra, the Haryana results were a big surprise, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
However, the Congress had the resilience to bounce back, he added.
On Congress-NCP tieState Congress leaders said the performance of the party could have been better if it had not broken the poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra.
“Breaking the Congress–NCP alliance was a major factor for the defeat of Congress candidates. The alliance could have helped cross 100 seats, if not secure majority,” Minister for Higher Education and Tourism R.V. Deshpande told The Hindu .
Mr. Deshpande said that anti-incumbency wave, differences among leaders and breaking the alliance with the NCP were major factors for the party’s defeat.
Congress leader B.L. Shankar said the division of secular votes led to the defeat of the Congress in many constituencies.
Speaking in Gulbarga, Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge said that though the polls results were a setback, the performance of the party was much better than that in the Lok Sabha elections in both States.
Congress leader B.K. Chandrashekar said that apart from an anti-incumbency wave, scams during the Congress-NCP rule contributed to the party’s defeat.
“Now, the Congress high command should come out with fresh ideas to reach out to young voters,” he said.
‘People moving to BJP’BJP national vice-president B.S. Yeddyurappa described the results as an indication of the people of the country moving towards the BJP.
Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Yeddyurappa maintained that the Congress would be wiped out from Karnataka in the coming years. “We will strengthen the BJP in the State to bring it back to power,” he remarked.
