The third force in the State, JD(S) of Mr Deva Gowda, has also lost ground but it had always played a key role in the formation and defeats of unstable Congress Governments in the past. It remains to be seen how wisely the Congress, now led by Mr Mallikarjun Kharge of Karnataka, would provide for a stable corruption-free Government.

The loss of Karnataka for BJP, at this stage, hardly less than a year for the national election in 2024, has grave implications for BJP, currently the supreme national ruling party. It had tried to make Karnataka its foot-hold in South for a gradual expansion of its power and influence in other Southern states.

The Prime Minister had very recently spent weeks to ginger up BJP's role with more effective presence in states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala so that the Party scores much better in the Lok Sabha elections to give itself a two-thirds majority to enforce its policies and programmes for a Hindu Nation.

The Congress President Mr Mallikarjun Kharge thanked the people of Karnataka for the "huge mandate" they had given the party to address. There is praise all round for the way Mr Kharge took up the challenge of winning the battle and his style of work among the people,

Latest figures (before counting was fully done) were Congress - 138 seats (with addition of 58) while ruling BJP won 65 seats (losing 39 seats). The Congress crossed the 113 mark for a majority in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly early in the leads.

The former Chief Minister Mr Siddaramaiah said the people wanted a Government that would deliver on its promises. The vote today was against "Modi, Amit Shah, and Nadda - PM, Home Minister and BJP President respectively.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge thanked the people of Karnataka for having given the party a "huge mandate" to govern, and praise is effusive for him from party leaders he is praised all around by both party leaders and others for the seriousness of his approach to the tasks before him. Former Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the vote (above 60 per cent for the Congress with about 138 seats, a gain of 58 seats over 2018 and a loss of BJP by 40 seats) was against "Modi, Amit Shah and Nadda" (PM, HM, and BJP President respectively).

A party to win must secure at least 113 seats and Congress crossed this for the 224-Assembly early in the leads.

Mr Kharge had said a couple of days before the Karnataka voting (May 10) that people were looking for an opportunity to punish the "40 per cent commission government" He also pointed out that Congress in Karnataka had run a unified campaign from the beginning. Whatever the failures of BJP, the Congress Government - led by one of two contending leaders, likely Mr Siddaramaiah as before, the issues of prices and unemployed youth would be given high priority, according to Congress sources.

Now, does the Karnataka poll verdict give pointers for opposition leaders in working out their strategy of forming an effective anti-BJP alliance? The Bihar Chief Minister Mr Nitish Kumar has been going round the country meeting leaders of all opposition parties and have planned to meet in Patna after the Karnataka polls are over. Mr Kumar has also met the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The Congress is now in a far more strengthened position to bargain with the other opposition parties for ensuring its rightful frontal place in the anti-BJP camp.

Irrespective of any developments related to an opposition alliance strategy, the Karnataka State election, with its unexpected fall of BJP would be a pace-setter in India's renewed commitment to adherence to its Constitutional Democracy and Secularism. (IPA service)