JOIN USThe Aam Aadmi Party effect in Delhi was felt even in Bengaluru, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressing his mixed feelings over the election results on Tuesday.
While he welcomed the AAP victory over the BJP, he admitted that it was a setback to the Congress party.
“It was expected that the AAP will come to power, but not with this kind of a sweeping mandate. With the objective of defeating the BJP being the prime agenda, the Congress’ traditional votes have also gone to the AAP. It is a major setback to the Congress. At the same time, it is evident from the results that the Modi magic did not work,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said that though the BJP was humiliated in the Delhi elections, it cannot be considered as a referendum against the Modi government. “They have been in power for only eight months, let us see how they perform in future,” said Siddaramaiah.
Watershed moment
JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda opined that the AAP victory will be a watershed of regional parties coming back to power across the country. “The era of the two national parties fighting each other in states has ended. The AAP victory has shown that the regional parties will start coming back to power,” he said.
Gowda hoped that Arvind Kejriwal would at least now bring proper administration to Delhi and prove himself.
Senior Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar said the APP had been able to register a thumping victory in Delhi as the Congress vote has shifted to AAP. “People of Delhi have asked the Congress leaders to take rest as they have served people for long,” he stated.
He ridiculed the BJP for securing only three seats. Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar defended saying that the BJP is far better than Congress which has scored zero. The BJP would have lost, but its vote share has remained intact, he added.