In the immediate aftermath of the election debacle in Karnataka, Congress and JD(S) leaders huddled together in Chief Minister Kumaraswamy's home office – Krishna in Bengaluru on Friday. Never before in the history of Karnataka elections has the Congress ever suffered such a crushing defeat. With only two constituencies in the Congress-JD(S) kitty, the loss has dented the morale of the party, and apprehensions have risen regarding the survival of the government.
An aura of defeat surrounded Siddaramaiah as he was ushered into his car on Friday morning. Speaking to the media, Siddaramaiah tried to put on a brave face and said, “This government will survive. I am telling you, it will survive 100%. The Parliamentary election results will not affect the coalition. There are no doubts about it.”
Speaking to TNM, Minister for Urban Development and Housing in Karnataka, UT Khader reiterated that there is no threat to the coalition government. “We are only going to discuss what went wrong (referring to the emergency meeting) and what we need to do to become strong. No, Kumaraswamy is not resigning and the coalition government will continue,” he added.
Exuding an air of confidence, DK Suresh, lone Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural told TNM that he has no doubt about the coalition’s strength. “Yes, the people have delivered their verdict. At a time like this, we need to discuss why this happened. We need to sit own with party workers and chalk out strategies. We are injured, we have enough doctors to heal the wounds. Kumaraswamy will not resign. The coalition government will complete 5 years,” he added.
Speculation is rife in political circles that the BJP in Karnataka is likely to poach Congress and JD(S) MLAs in a bid to topple the government. Since the Congress-JD(S) combine won only two seats in the Lok Sabha elections, several leaders in the grand old party too have demanded that a Congress Chief Minister must be appointed and Kumaraswamy must resign.
With rumours of instability doing the rounds, only time will tell if the coalition in the state survives.