With Fears Of A Hung Verdict In Karnataka, Backroom Operations On In Full Swing

Backroom operations are on in full-swing in Karnataka as all parties fear that there could be a hung verdict.

Karnataka voted on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13.

On Thursday, senior Congress leaders, D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah held talks with the party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala on the way forward in case the verdict turns out to be hung.

BJP sources tell OneIndia that senior leader, Shobha Karandlaje held talks with the BJP central leaders in the event of a fractured mandate. In case the BJP falls short it would have to seek the support of the JD(S), which is projected to get 20 to 30 seats. The magic number in the 224 member Karnataka Assembly is 113.

In the 2018 elections the BJP ended up with 104 seats, while the Congress and JD(S) had 78 and 37 respectively. The Congress and JD(S) joined hands to form the government in Karnataka, only to be toppled a year later.

The BJP managed to engineer defections from the Congress and JD(S) and managed to form the government with Yediyurappa at the helm. Yediyurappa was however replaced and Basavaraj Bommai took over the reigns.

For the JD(S) the biggest challenge is to keep its legislators together. Like he did in 2018, JD(S) boss, H D Kumaraswamy left for Singapore on Wednesday night. He is expected to return on Saturday, the day counting will be held.

For the Congress, it would be an easy situation if it gets close to the majority mark. It could form the government with the support of the independents. However if it is ten short of the majority mark, then the going would be tough for the party. In the event of such a scenario, the Congress would have to reach out to the JD(S).

However in this event, it would not be possible for either Shivakumar or Siddaramaiah to become the chief minister and they would have to hand over that post to Kumaraswamy, like was the case in 2018.