After Karnataka Bypoll Humiliation, Siddaramaiah Quits As Congress Legislative Party Leader

Congress Legislative Party leader in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Monday took responsibility of the party’s poor show in the Assembly bypolls and tendered his resignation. The ruling BJP swept the Karnataka Assembly bypolls by wining 12 of the 15 seats where byelections were held on December 5. The Congress party could manage to win just two seats while the remaining one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.

"As a leader of legislative party, I need to respect democracy. I have resigned as Congress Legislative Party leader. I have submitted my resignation to Sonia Gandhi Ji," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Bengaluru. He has also resigned as the Leader Of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly.

Senior Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar also conceded defeat, saying that people have accepted defectors and the Congress party agrees with their mandate. "We have to agree with the mandate of the voters of these 15 constituencies. People have accepted the defectors. We have accepted defeat. I don't think we have to be disheartened," Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar said.

Interestingly, 12 of the 15 seats were held by the Congress and the remaining three by its alliance partner JDS. However, the legislators of these constituencies revolted against their respective parties, which led to the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JDS government. The MLAs later disqualified by the Speaker.

However, they joined the BJP and fought on the saffron party's ticket. After the victory, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that these leaders will be made ministers in his government. "We had given assurance to all the disqualified (Congress-JDS) MLAs that they will be made ministers. So there is no question of backtracking from what we promised them. We will make them ministers and give them responsibility to grow our party base in their area."