Party suffered because of Siddarmaiah's arrogance: Congress leader

Congress leader and outgoing Karnataka Assembly Speaker K. B. Koliwad on Wednesday blamed outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah's "arrogant behaviour" for the party's loss of mandate in the state assembly elections.

"He (Siddarmaiah) thinks he is the boss of the party, the party has suffered because of his arrogant behaviour," Koliwad told ANI.

He further said that Siddaramaiah did favoritism in allotting tickets to the people and his behaviour with the public and his talks across the state added to the party's downfall in Karnataka.

"His performance is good, I will not deny that, but his behaviour. he is not loyal to the party. He is not a true Congressman. Many Congress people have this view of him but do not express it," he added.

In comparison to the last assembly elections in 2013, the Congress this year slipped from 122 seats to 78 seats in the assembly.

Results of the Karnataka Assembly polls announced on Tuesday evening showed that the BJP won 104 seats, emerging as the single largest party, while the Congress and JD(S) bagged 78 and 37 seats, respectively.

Soon after, the Congress announced that it would support the JD (S), taking their total seat share to 117, thus resulting in a fractured mandate.

As the results of the poll have left Karnataka with a hung assembly, the fate of Karnataka will be decided by the state Governor, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala.