Karnataka elections: ‘BJP has accepted its defeat,’ Congress leader Randeep Surjewala about JDS alliance

He said that the Congress will form the government in the southern state, with a comfortable majority.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party had 'accepted defeat' in the Karnataka Assembly election and thanked crores of voters for stepping out and exercising their franchise on polling day (Wednesday). Surjewala also underlined the Congress' belief it will claim a comfortable majority after votes are counted tomorrow and form the new government in the southern state under its own steam.

Randeep Surjewala

"I want to thank the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka who have voted for the Congress. Let us wait till tomorrow... till the results are out. BJP has admitted their defeat."

Asked by reporters about the possibility of a post-poll deal with the Janata Dal (Secular) - a repeat of the 2018 post-poll scenario, an alliance that ended in disaster a year later when it was unseated by rebel MPs and the BJP - Surjewala said: "Let them go wherever they want to go. I am confident about the Congress forming the government with a decent majority."

The senior Congress leader's comment comes after exit polls predict a tight race - and possibly even a hung Assembly - in Karnataka, with the JDS seen as a potential 'kingmaker'.

Ex-chief minister and JDS senior HD Kumaraswamy has said his party - which is not expected to win more than 30-odd seats - is ready to deal with any party that agrees to his 'terms'.

On the BJP, Surjewala declare the tactics of the saffron party and prime minister Narendra Modi had 'failed'. "BJP and PM Narendra Modi's attempts to polarise Karnataka did not work."

"Congress members worked hard in taking the party’s five major poll promises to people. We are humbled with the numbers that exit polls predicted but let us wait for tomorrow."

Exit polls give the Congress a very slight edge in this contest but not quite enough to form a government on its own, meaning support from the JDS will almost certainly be needed.

The possibility of that support was ruled out, however, by the Congress' state boss, DK Shivakumar, who is also a chief ministerial aspirant. “Exit polls have their own theory. We don't go by those samples... we will have a comfortable majority. I do not know about JDS, let them take their own call. I don't have any backup plan; my only plan is Congress will win."