Basavaraj Bommai resigns as Karnataka CM after BJP’s loss in assembly elections

Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday resigned as Karnataka chief minister, hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party lost the assembly elections.

“I have tendered my resignation and it has been accepted,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said after tendering his resignation to Karnataka governor Thawar Chand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan.

The saffron party was voted out of its only bastion in southern India, with the Congress registering a resounding victory by winning 136 out of 224 assembly seats. The defeat came despite a high-decibel poll campaign headlined by BJP bigwigs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda in the state.

The Congress fought the elections at a local level with Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah leading from the front. The party managed to wrest the state despite the flak faced by it over the manifesto promise equating Bajrang Dal to the banned outfit Popular Front of India.

A campaign against corruption, guarantees of dole and consolidation of Muslim votes appear to have underpinned the Congress victory that was also aided by anti-incumbency against the BJP government.

“It is a big victory. Through this, new energy emerged in the whole nation. BJP used to taunt us and say that ‘we will make Congress mukt Bharat’. Now the truth is that it is ‘BJP mukt south India,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said at a presser held at Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office in Bengaluru, flanked by both Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.

With the victory in the polls, now all eyes are set on the Congress which will now pick its new chief minister. The Congress legislative party meeting will be held at 5:30 pm on Sunday.