Basavaraj Bommai takes responsibility for BJP's drubbing in Karnataka polls

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that he will take responsibility for the saffron party's defeat in the May 10 Assembly elections.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting of BJP leaders in Belagavi, he said that they had introspected the party's defeat in the assembly elections.

"The meeting was convened to ascertain whether local issues or other reasons affected the elections," he said.

Bommai, meanwhile, expressed confidence that in the coming days, the BJP will get the support of the people.

"We have announced the candidates very late for the Assembly elections. The experiment of giving tickets to new faces did not work out. Local factors also affected the results. I will take the responsibility for the defeat," he said.

Bommai said the development activities should not stop at the cost of guarantee schemes in the state.

"In this background, I have written a letter to the Chief Minister, and requested him not to stop the Viveka project. This is not the BJP's scheme. The construction work of 8,000 school rooms has started. Let us see what the decision of CM Siddaramaiah would be. Based on that, we will respond appropriately. Siddaramaiah has not spoken about where he will mobilise the funds for the implementation of guarantee schemes. This has created doubts for the government," Bommai explained.

"The people have given a mandate to the Congress party. We will work as a responsible opposition party. If anti-people policies and programmes are taken up, the same people have given us power to oppose," he said.