Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader H K Patil has resigned as the President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee, taking responsibility for the party's disastrous defeat in the state in the Lok Sabha polls.
In a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said the results had "shocked" all Congressmen and the outcome in Karnataka was contrary to their expectations. Stating that it was time for all of them to introspect, he said "As President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress campaign Committee I had the privilege to take the policies and message of my esteemed Party to the people.
In view of the debacle, I feel it my moral duty to own-up the responsibility. Hence, with all humility, I submit my resignation to the post." Steamrolling the ruling Congress-JDS alliance, BJP scored a resounding win in Karnataka, bagging 25 out of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats in an outcome that left the one-year-old Kumaraswamy government in a tizzy over its stability.
With the BJP dealing a hammer blow, Congress and JD(S) managed to win only one seat each, indicating that neither arithmetic nor chemistry worked for the two, which apparently failed to reconcile with each other at the ground level.
This is said to be worst ever performance by Congress in Karnataka and a record of sorts by the BJP, for which Karnataka emerged as the bright spot in the South with other neighbouring states bucking the "Modi magic".
Patil was made campaign committee chief after he had expressed discontentment over not being inducted into the coalition cabinet.
He was also seen as an aspirant for the KPCC President's post, but Dinesh Gundu Rao was appointed.
