Congress, JD(S) rift led to their downfall in Karnataka

Karnataka was one of the few states where Congress along with ally JD Secular had stopped the BJP's chariot despite the BJP winning 104 seats (113 required for a simple majority) in the Assembly elections concluded last year. Congress with its 80 seats allied with JD (S) who won 37 seats. JD(S) with only 37 seats managed to get the CM post.

Senior media consultant K.S Narahari said people of Karnataka were not happy with a 37-seat party leader getting a CM post. "Despite an alliance the traditional rivalry between Congress and JD(S) was in full display in South Karnataka where both the parties have a share in the Vokalliga vote pie,"Narahari said.

So what essentially happened experts believe is while RSS and BJP managed to retain their traditional strongholds of Uttar and Dakshin Kannada regions which includes Coastal area of the state the other regions where Congress and JD(S) are influential drew a blank.

Congress JD(S) could hence retain only one seat each of Bangalore rural where DK Suresh brother of Congress man Friday in the state D.K. Shivakumar won. Besides that H.D. Devegowda's grandson Prajwal Revanna won from the family bastion of Hassan. The chilly growing region of Tumkur gave no sweet surprises to JDS patriarch HD Devegowda who lost to his BJP rival G.S.Basavaraj.

Another surprise was the defeat of CM Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil from the prestigious Mandya seat where Late Kannada superstar Ambarish's wife and actor Sumalatha won. Congress MLAs from Malavelli Narendraswamy and Nagamangala MLA Cheluvarayaswamy also covertly supported Sumalatha.

What the Modi factor did in the state was it acted as a catalyst to complete the self-destruction that Congress and JD(S) had unleashed upon themselves.