New Delhi:
The Congress on Monday defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka urban local bodies elections by winning 982 out of 2662 seats against the saffron party’s 929 seats. Despite being in coalition, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) had decided to fight the elections separately and stitch a post-poll alliance. The JD-S secured 375 seats in the civic polls held on August 31.
With 982 of the Congress and 375 of the JD-S, the ruling coalition has a clear edge over the BJP in the southern state’s urban local bodies.
Congratulating the party workers for the victory, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at the saffron party and said that people of the state had rejected the “jumlas of BJP”.
“People of Karnataka have once again reposed their faith in Congress by making it the No. 1 party in Urban Local Bodies. People have accepted development policies of Congress and JDS Govt and have rejected Jumlas of BJP. Many thanks to every Karnataka Congress worker,” Surjewala wrote on Twitter.
Terming the victory as a people’s stamp on the coalition government, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said, “Voters in the city usually vote for BJP but with the outcome of this result, now even they have shown full support for the coalition government led by Congress and JD(S).”
Reacting to the victory, former prime minister and the JD-S chief HD Deve Gowda said, “We have succeeded. The JD(S) and the Congress will work together to keep BJP at a distance.”
