Ruling Congress routed in Karnataka, CM resigns

Tottering under the onslaught of the BJP and JD(S), Congress faced a rout in state assembly polls.

Tottering under the onslaught of BJP and JD(S), the ruling Congress in Karnataka on Thursday faced a rout in the Assembly polls, prompting Chief Minister S M Krishna to resign, as the prospect of a hung assembly loomed large on the state.

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With results for 84 of the 224 seats declared so far, the BJP-JD(U) combine had bagged 30 seats, followed by the Congress 29 and JD(S) led by former Prime Minister H D Devegowda 20 in a fierce neck and neck tri-lateral contest. Others secured five seats.

As defeat stared at his face, Krishna drove to Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation to Governor T N Chaturvedi, meeting a similar fate as his counterpart in Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu but in a more merciful way.

With the results and trends showing a fractured verdict, a big question mark is put on the formation of the next government.The Congress contested on its own, while the BJP had alliance with its national partner JD(U) and JD(S) with Communists.

The prospects of Congress and JD(S) coming together to make up the required numbers were hotly debated but JD(S) said it would hold a meeting of its party legislators here tomorrow.

Several of state ministers, including Kagodu Thimappa, Suman Vasanth, Vasanth Salian and D B Chandregowda, fell by the wayside in what was attributed to the anti-incumbency coupled with the Vajpayee factor whose impact was quite strong in Karnataka.