Cong's Karnataka campaign panel chief resigns, bats for introspection

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 on Friday resigned from the post and batted for introspection.

"It is time for all of us to introspect. I feel it my moral duty to own up the responsibility, hence, I submit my resignation from the post," HK Patil said in a letter to the party president.

"Owning the responsibility for the loss in Lok Sabha Elections, I hereby resign as a Chairman of Karnataka Campaign Committee. I would like to thank shri @RahulGandhi ji, @kcvenugopalmp, @dineshgrao, @siddaramaiah for the opportunity to serve the party," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

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

On Thursday, Patil had congratulated BJP on its massive win in the Lok Sabha polls and had hoped that the new government would take the country towards growth and prosperity.

"Congratulations to BJP on the victory. The verdict of people in a democracy is paramount and we hope your new govt will shape India towards better growth and prosperity," he had said on Twitter.

Karnataka has 28 parliamentary seats, of which the BJP has won 25 seats while one seat each was bagged by Congress, JDS and an independent candidate.

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

The grand old party managed to get only 52 seats in the Lok Sabha while BJP has won 302 seats and is leading on one seat.