UPA Govt on defensive after poll reverses in Karnataka:Jaitley

New Delhi, May 28 (UNI) The BJP today asserted that the Congress had gone on the defensive after the reverses in the just concluded Karnataka assembly polls and said the UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be weak by the time the Lok Sabha elections are held.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley visualised a disintegration of the ruling UPA alliance in the coming months and emergence of new political equations ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He sought to draw a paralel between the present Government and that of previous Congress government headed by P V Narasimha Rao and said Dr Singh would have nothing to convince voters to justify his Government's five year in office.

The ruling coalition would not be able to contain soaring prices and populist policies like Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and would not be able to cut ice with the electorates.

Replying to a question about the increased proximity between former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Samajwadi Party with the Congress, he said as the proximity would bloom, the other UPA allies would be parting company.

Meanwhile the BJP did not agree with the contention of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that the BJP would have been much better placed had it faced elections in Karnataka with his Janata Dal (United) party as its ally.

The BJP has won 110 seats, just three short of the majority in the 224-member assembly and is dependent on six Independent MLAs. A senior party leader pointed out that the party had offered 10 seats to the ally but the latter was seeking 25 seats.

Following the breakdown of talks, the JD(U) which had five MLAs in 2004 elections contested in 71 seats on its own winning no seats at all.

In the event of parting seats to its alliance partner the BJP would have secured lesser number of seats paving the way for an alliance between the Congress and the Janata Dal(Secular), the leader said.

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