Karnataka: Is Bommai Eyeing Opposition Leader Post? Here's What He Says

Even as the deliberations on the selection of Karnataka's next Chief Minister are on in Congress, the BJP is prepping up to pick the Leader of the Opposition in the 224-member Assembly.

Going by the reports, Basavaraj Bommai, S Suresh Kumar and Arvind Bellad are in the race for the post.

When asked whether he is eyeing the post, outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that he would work for the party whether he has a post or not.

"As a responsible man, I don't go by the post... whether the Leader of the Opposition is given to me. The overall responsibility is on me... I have been the Chief Minister for two years and have given so many good programmes. It is for me to take it up once again to the people," NDTV quoted him as saying in an exclusive interview.

A report in News18 claims that Bommai is a strong contender since he has three years of administrative experience. The Lingayat identity will make him an ideal candidate for the post.

In the recently-concluded Karnataka Assembly polls, the BJP, which had won 104 seats in the 2018 polls, was reduced to 66 while the Congress emerged victorious, winning 135 seats. The JDS ended up bagging just 19 seats.

On the poll debacle, Bommai said, "Personally I feel that the Congress was more organised and started earlier, which otherwise BJP used to do... We took our decisions a little late, acted late." He claimed that his government had given a lot of good programmes to the people, but the "right messaging did not go to the people."

Nonetheless, he has taken responsibility for the BJP's humiliating defeat. "I take the entire blame. A leader has to take the blame. Only then only things can move forward... The major thing is that we have to prepare the party quite early for the Lok Sabha election. We have to bring in new blood, and new thinking at all levels. We have to rejuvenate our workers. Within three to six months, things will change and help us," he said.