Congress' Fluke Hit or BJP's Overconfidence: What is the lea

In a humiliating defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka on Saturday, entrusted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat four hours into the vote-counting process, according to State Congress president DK Shivakumar, who claimed he delivered as promised to the (Congress) high command. A flood of inquiries on the performance of the BJP was met with silence by Bommai, who was also the party's presumed chief minister. "Once the entire findings are received, we will conduct a thorough analysis. As a national party, we'll examine the problems, but we'll also notice the gaps and inadequacies across the board. The 63-year-old seasoned politician added, "We accept this setback in stride and will come back stronger in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Here are the top factors that led to the BJP's loss:

1. Corruption

Voters seemed to be receptive to the Congress's energetic anti-BJP campaign that emphasized fighting corruption. After a contractor committed suicide in April of last year, Congress started promoting the "PayCM" and "40% Sarkara" campaigns. These advertisements were in response to the head of the contractors' organization, D Kempanna, who claimed that the BJP administration had taken a 40% cut in projects. The BJP's reputation was damaged on the corruption platform by the Lokayukta inquiry that resulted in the arrest of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa and his son in a case of bribery.

2. The Historical Context

Yes, the BJP did begin at a disadvantage. The BJP has been in power since 2019 after an unusual coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy and consisting of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular disintegrated when a number of members resigned. And since 1985, the incumbent party has never been elected to power in Karnataka. Prime Minister Modi's blitzkrieg to boost the BJP's prospects and combat "anti-incumbency" did attempt to break the curse.

3. Reservation and Divisiveness are the problems

Another topic of discussion for the opposition was the Basavaraj Bommai administration's choice to divide the 4% Muslim OBC-2B category reservation for employment and education between the two dominant castes, Vokkaliga and Lingayat, equally. A section of the community was also outraged by the state government's hasty decision to implement internal reservations for those who belong to the Scheduled Castes category. On the other hand, Congress pledged to assist underrepresented caste groups, strengthen Lingayat reservations, increase the reserve rate to 75%, and reinstitute minority reservations.

4. The Hike in Prices

The opposition Congress and JD(S) focused on the rising prices of necessities like gasoline and cooking gas as well as unemployment in order to garner support from the poor and middle class. The opposition campaign did prompt the BJP to make promises to BPL families of three free cooking gas cylinders every year, the establishment of Atal Aahara Kendras to provide subsidized food, half a litre of free Nandini milk every day, and 5 kg of rice through monthly ration kits in an effort to lessen the impact of the opposition on voters.

5. Veterans' resignation

The Congress had the chance to portray the BJP as an anti-Lingayat party as a result of the BJP's attempt to bring about a generational transition by rejecting tickets to a number of old-guard officials, including former chief minister Jagdish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi. Shettar, a Congress candidate from Hubli-Dharwad-Central-73, is losing the seat to the BJP by a significant margin, while Savadi, another Congress candidate, is poised to keep it.