LS poll results might lead to K'taka Assembly collapse

The exit polls suggested an overwhelming victory for the BJP. The trends also suggest a minimum of 20 seats for the BJP in the state. This would leave the Congress-JDS alliance with less than 10 seats in the Lok Sabha from Karnataka.

The Karnataka Chief Minister has faced constant criticism since his swearing in with suggestions made for alternate chief ministers every now and then. Further questions have been raised regarding the candidature of H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and H D Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had claimed that Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge had missed opportunities to become the chief minister of the state.

“Mr Kharge had missed opportunities to become the CM many times in the past,” CM Kumaraswamy said.

In response to the statement, Congress leader Siddaramaiah suggested that Kumaraswamy’s elder brother and state minister H D Revanna is also ‘CM material’.

“There are many leaders in the Congress and JD(S) who are chief ministerial material and one of them is Mr Kumaraswamy’s brother HD Revanna. But for everything, right time should come.” While Revanna explicitly expressed that he had no desire to become the Chief Minister, tensions have been rising between the coalition partners.

"Well if NDA is coming back to power, I humbly appeal to Muslim brothers to learn to compromise with the situation," If needs be, (Muslims) must join hands. We must not remain loyal to one party. What happened to Muslims in Karnataka? Congress gave just one seat," Roshan Baig said earlier this week.

“I hold Dinesh Gundu Rao for conducting a flop poll campaign. Moreover, CLP leaders who were flying high in the sky should come to terms with ground realities” he added while calling former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah ‘arrogant’.

The loss of Assembly seat in Kundgol might come as a disappointment for BJP but they will still be looking at the volatile alliance which looks to explode any moment now.

JD(S) insiders, meanwhile, claim that if the coalition tally goes below 10 and Chief Minister's son Nikhil loses from Mandya, the coalition will surely collapse. They even hint at JD(S) going with the BJP to save its existence, News18 has reported.

With Sumalatha Ambareesh looking likely to win against Nikhil Kumaraswamy and the alliance not receiving more than five seats in the Lok Sabha, furthers problems are sure to arise within the alliance. This might eventually lead to the collapse of the government, a government that was already built on a fractured mandate.