Veerappa Moily for ending Gathbandhan in Karnataka, says it was a mistake

Bengaluru: A day after former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda’s warning of sorts to coalition partner Congress that mid-term polls were all too likely, it was senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily, a long time confidant of the high command, who on Saturday signalled that the ‘mahagathbandhan’ maybe on its last legs, saying that had there been no tie up with JD(S), the Congress would have won 15 to 16 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking to reporters in Chikkaballpura, Mr Moily conceded that trusting the alliance was a mistake. “Hundred per cent, not only in Chikkaballapura, but also my observations holds good in other constituencies as well if there was no alliance, we (Congress) would have easily won 15-16,” he said.

Mr Moily’s statement indicates that the Congress too wanted to send Mr Gowda a signal that it was also ready with plan “B” – to face mid-term polls – as Mr Moily took Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah's stand on ending the alliance, a step forward. Calling for reorganising Congress from the grassroots, he added that Congress paid the price for going with the JD(S).

“After this bitter experience the party (Congress) should not repeat this again. Instead of experimenting like this, we should reorganise our party and face elections on our own. I did not get JD(S) votes. Going to them, talking to them was a waste of time. Had I utilised that time to concentrate on my voters, I would have probably got far more votes,” he said referring to his defeat in his constituency. Mr Moily lost to BJP’s B. N. Bache Gowda in Chikkaballapurs by a record margin of 1.82 lakh votes. Congress and JD(S) which faced the polls in alliance managed to win one seat each, while BJP won 25 seats. The saffron party supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh won in Mandya, where former prime minsiter Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy had contested against her. However, Moily said though he had lost from Chikkaballapura, he still trusted the people of the constituency.

Indicating that ineffectiveness of the state government also led to the disastrous result in the LS polls, the former union minister said other than saving the government, those in power should also look into the needs of the people, who do not have a good opinion about the administration.