Karnataka could slip out of Indian PM Modi's hands

World Tuesday 15/May/2018 22:25 PM
By: Times News Service
Karnataka could slip out of Indian PM Modi's hands

Muscat: In a dramatic new development, incumbent political Congress and regional party Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) may form a government in Karnataka, India.
This would mean that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) could lose out on an opportunity to capture it's 22nd state.
The possibility of a non-BJP government occurred when Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah gave "unconditional support" to JDS supremo H.D. Kumaraswamy and offered him the post of the Chief Minister. JDS was quick to stake claim and has written to Karnataka's governor Vajubhai Vala about the same.
In a bitterly contested battle over the southern state, BJP had emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats out of a possible 224. However, BJP fell short because 113 seats are required to form a government. On the other hand, the ruling party Congress suffered a setback, only managing 78 seats. JDS also fared poorly, winning only 38 seats, down from 40 in the last polls in 2013.
However, Congress and JDS together polled 116 seats, which is enough take over Karnataka. Moreover, Congress' bigwig D.K. Shivakumar has reportedly roped in two more MLAs for a possible coalition government.
JDS opened it's account in north Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka, in part, thanks to its allies Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).