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No Karnataka alliance with Congress, says ex PM Devegowda: 'It lost Punjab as..'
In Karnataka. where chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is already confident of the BJP's return to power, the JDS does not want to count on a Congress alliance.
The Congress poll performance in Punjab and other states will lead to fresh troubles for the party ahead of several assembly elections due within the next one year. In Karnataka. where chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is already confident of the BJP's return to power, the JDS does not want to count on a Congress alliance. "The reasons that led to the Congress's failure in Punjab include farmers' agitation and internal party issues. This has given the best opportunity to AAP and (other) opposition parties... People of Punjab have not selected the BJP," HD Devegowda, JDS leader, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On a question if his party would consider an alliance with the Congress, the former prime minister said: "I would like to tell you that we are not at all thinking about those alliances. We will sit in the opposition and we will try to build the party."
The remarks came ahead of a key meeting by the Congress on the poll performance that Sonia Gandhi is set to chair on Sunday. The Congress won just 18 of 117 seats in Punjab where the state saw high drama and shock exit of Amarinder Singh in the months before elections.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which is still finding its feet in the national politcal landscape, was able to defeat the ruling party by winning 92 seats. Not just Punjab, the Congress performance in other states was as miserable. It won just two of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 19 of 70 seats in Uttarakhand, 5 of 60 seats in Manipur and 11 of 40 seats in Goa.
Admitting the debacle, the party - that has been facing criticism from its own leaders apart from critics - is now in a self-reflection mode.
