Congress leader S M Krishna on Sunday owned moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Karnataka and said it would have to rework its strategy while being in the opposition.
"All of us together are answerable for the defeat. I had said earlier that if Congress is defeated, I, as chief campaign manager, will own up the responsibility. I own up the responsibility," he said while commenting on the party's electoral performance in Karnataka.
"I congratulate the BJP for securing a near simple majority. I wish them well," said Krishna, who resigned as Maharashtra governor ahead of the elections to take up the campaigner's role.
Conceding that the Congress would have to sit in the opposition, he said the party, "Will have to rework its strategy and then successfully handle issues of the state while sitting in the opposition."
He said challenges before BJP are "very huge" as expectations of people are "very high."
"I hope they (BJP) will have the political will to take up the issues of the state and provide good administration," Krishna said.
Asked whether the BJP would be able to deliver considering that it had no experience of governing the state, the Congress leader said, "They will learn on the job."
On suggestions about disunity and dissidents in Congress, Krishna was dismissive about it, saying such reports usually surface during elections.
Union Minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan said the party may not be able to reach the half-way mark.
The reason, he said, was that with the Janata Dal-Secular doing well in a limited way, secular votes were divided and that affected the Congress.
Asked whether it was possible for the party to align with the JD-S, he said these decisions would be taken at the level of the Congress Working Committee and the party high command.
He also blamed the delayed delimitation and defective voters' list as reasons that contributed to the Congress' bad performance.
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