JANTA DAL (S) ACCEPTS CONGRESS OFFER, SET TO CLAIM FOR GOVERENMENT FORMATION
AMN / New Delhi / Bangalore
With the Karnataka witnessing a hung Assembly, Congress party today offered chiefministership to the JDS leader H D Kumarasawamy which later has accepted and the both parties have decided to form coalition government in the state. The Secular gameplan might end the possibilty of BJP which has emerged as single largest party in the state.
The BJP is currently ahead in 104 seats, followed by the Congress at 78 and JD(S) at 38.
Sources said the Congress leadership has instructed Ghulam Nabi Azad and KC Venugopal to convey the offer of party to JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda.
Another aspect on which the polls were unanimous was the performance of the Janata Dal (Secular). By 10 am, two hours after counting began, on Tuesday, the JD (S) had already proved exit polls wrong. While the party had been dubbed ‘kingmaker’ based on the exit polls, its performance on Tuesday may propel it to power.
ABP TV had predicted a tally in favour of the BJP with a seat count between 97-109 seats; 97-99 seats for the Congress and between 21 and 30 for the JD(S). India Today’s exit poll has predicted 106-118 seats for Congress; 79-92 seats for BJP; 22-30 for JD(S) and 1-4 seats for the others.
Aaj Tak exit polls have also gone in the favour of Congress and has given Congress 106 to 118 seats; BJP 72 to 76 seats; JD(S) 25 to 30 seats and others 4 to 8 seats. NDTV’s ‘Poll of Polls’ based on eight exit polls, predicted BJP to be the single largest party with 101 seats, Congress second with 84 seats followed by the Deve Gowda-led JD(S) with 33 seats.