Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy congrats Modi, BJP

Bengaluru, May 23 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with absolute majority.

"This is an unexpected result for me personally. But I congratulate Modi and BJP for the absolute mandate they got from the people," tweeted Kumaraswamy in Kannada, hours after the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and its ally Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in the southern state where the saffron party won 25 of the 28 parliamentary seats.

Congratulating all the winners in the state irrespective of party affiliations, Kumaraswamy said that though the JD-S had won and lost many elections in the past, it would continue to work for the welfare of the people.

"We will discuss the results with our party leaders and legislators and also our ally Congress to strengthen our coalition government to serve the people," the Chief Minister tweeted.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 17 seats and is leading in eight more out of 27 seats the party had contested, while the JD-S and the Congress won only one each.

Independent Sumalatha Ambareesh, who was supported by the BJP, won from Mandya against Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of the Chief Minister and grandson of JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.

Of the seven seats JD-S contested in the two-phase poll held on April 18 and April 23, six of its candidates, including Deve Gowda lost from Tumkur to the BJP.

Of the 21 seats Congress contested in a pre-poll seat arrangement with JD-S, it lost in 20 and could retain only one - Bangalore Rural.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP won 17, Congress nine and JD-S two.