BENGALURU: With the Congress racing past the halfway mark and all set to form the next government in Karnataka, BJP leader and outgoing state minister CN Ashwath Narayan said he was “surprised” over the outcome of the Assembly elections.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, as Congress workers erupted in celebration, Narayan said, “The people of Karnataka have spoken and the results are clearly in favour of the Congress. However, I am surprised at the outcome. We gave good governance to the people and did all we could to win. However, we need to be humble and need to accept the people’s verdict, which has gone against us. We’ll assess what cost us the polls. We’ll discuss and debate,” Narayan said.
As per the latest counting trends, the Congress has already won 114 seats and are leading in another 22, while the ruling BJP has won 50 and are in the lead in a further 14 seats. Ashwath Narayan, who contested the Malleswaram Assembly constituency, comfortably defeated his closest rival, Congress’s Anoop Iyengar, by 41,302 votes.
Reacting to his victory, Narayan said, “I would wholeheartedly like to thank the people of Malleswaram for blessing me and supporting me in a very big way.”
“Their support will give me the strength going forward,” he told ANI.
Earlier, as initial counting trends put the Congress in a clear lead over the BJP, celebrations broke out in the party headquarters in the national capital. (ANI)