“We cannot marry either of them” is the mantra that Congress has adopted with regard to JD(S) and BJP in Karnataka as the Sonia Gandhi-led party has decided to face the elections if and when the H D Kumaraswamy government falls.

“We would prefer to face the elections whenever they are held in Karnataka, as that would benefit us in the long run,” highly-placed AICC sources said on Friday, stating that Congress was now content in its “observer status” in the state’s unfolding scenario.

Right now, the sources said, Congress did not see any role to play. “We would rather watch the JD(S)-BJP government fall under the weight of its own contradictions,” a senior AICC leader said.

The party high command is also keeping its eyes and ears open for any indication of “baits” from the Deve Gowda camp to some state Congress leaders, particularly as some senior state leaders had made sympathetic comments regarding the JD(S) in recent times.

“We want the government to fall on its own. We have a good chance to perform well in any election in Karnataka,” the sources said. 

AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, meanwhile, said, “People in Karnataka are caught between the devil and the deep sea. BJP and JD(S) are strange bedfellows whose only mad passion is for power.”