After election drubbing, JD(S) asks members to not engage with media

Bengaluru: Following the massive defeat faced by Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, JD(S) working president MS Narayan Rao issued a circular to party leaders, spokespersons and MLAs asking them to not participate in TV debates or give any statements to the media.

The BJP has won 25 out of 28 parliamentary seats in Karnataka - a state government by the Congress, JD(S) alliance - while one seat each was bagged the coalition partners and an independent candidate.

Congress heavyweights including Rizwan Arshad, Krishna Byregowda, BK Hariprasad, Mallikarjun Kharge and HD Deve Gowda lost from their respective constituencies against the BJP candidates.

Earlier, taking the moral responsibility for the Congress party's humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, the party's campaign committee chairman H K Patil had resigned from his post.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won 17 seats in the state while the Congress and the JD(S) were restricted to nine and two seats, respectively.

The assembly elections in Karnataka in 2018 had let to a hung assembly with BJP as the single largest party with 105 members in the 225 member assembly while the ruling coalition had 117 members with 79 legislators from Congress, 37 from JD(S) and 1 from BSP.