Siddaramaiah quits after Congress loses Karnataka bypolls

Leader of opposition in Karnataka assembly Siddaramaiah of the Congress quit on Thursday “owning moral responsibility” for the defeat of his party candidates in the two bypolls for the Kadur and Gulbarga South assembly seats.

Siddaramaiah announced his resignation soon after sending the letter to party president Sonia Gandhi. “The outcome is not a mandate against the party. I have resigned owning moral responsibility,” he told reporters.

The ruling BJP snatched the Kadur seat in Chikmagalur district from the Congress, but conceded the Gulbarga South seat in Gulbarga district to JD(S).

BJP’s YC Vishwanath, a medical practitioner, won in Kadur, while Aruna Patil Revoor of JD(S) won in Gulbarga South.
A jubilant JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy hailed the victory of his party candidate Aruna Patil Revoor in Gulbarga South as the victory of the people of the constituency.

State Congress president RV Deshpande, whose term has ended, blamed the party’s poor show on “BJP’s misuse of official machinery”.

The bypolls were necessitated by the death of sitting members KM Krishnamurthy (Kadur-Congress) and Chandrashekar Patil Revoor (Gulbarga South-BJP).