Interesting trend in Karnataka, same party leading in assembly, Centre for first time in 2 decades

Bengaluru, May 23: Karnataka seems to be defying a trend. For around two decades, the party which emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka in the assembly elections, has not been able form government at the Centre.

In 1999, the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Karnataka assembly elections, but at the Centre it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA which formed the government.

In 2004 assembly elections in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party with 79 seats. But, at the Centre it was Congress-led UPA government with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.

In 2008, the BJP again emerged as the largest party in assembly elections while at the Centre there was UPA government.

From 2013-2018, it was Siddaramaiah led Congress government in Karnataka, while at the Centre it was BJP-led NDA rule from 2014 to 2019.

Now, after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is set to form the government at the Centre while in state elections also the BJP is largest party with 104 seats.

The government in the state is of Congress-JD (S) coalition, but then the BJP, in 2018 assembly elections, had emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats.

This is the first time in two decades that the BJP is at the Centre as well as the largest party in state assembly.

As of 3 pm, the BJP is leading in 24 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. If this translates to victory, then it would be record number of seats that the BJP has ever won in the state. Their previous best was 18 seats.