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RSS ideologue M G Vaidya on Wednesday said it was beyond their imagination that the BJP will be decimated in Karnataka Assembly elections. "Though BJP was set to fare poorly but such a disgusting performance, no one thought of," Vaidya, a former spokesperson of the RSS, told reporters here.
"The Yeddyurappa factor has worked against the BJP certainly and his exit from the saffron fold played a key role in BJP's debacle" in the only southern state where the party ruled, he said. BJP on Wednesday suffered a humiliating defeat in the Karnataka Assembly elections as Congress appeared to be well on its way to wresting power on its own after a gap of seven years. However, ruling out any impact on the 2014 general elections in the country, Vaidya said five states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh will go to polls later this year which will set the trend for the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile BJP said it was "shocked, upset and unhappy" about the defeat in the Assembly elections and conceded that B S Yeddyurappa's exit was a factor in the rout. "We are shocked. We are upset and unhappy about the loss. There is a combination of several factors that led to the fall of morale of the cadre," BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratatp Rudy said.
He said the party will analyse the cause of the loss and why it happened. Another senior party leader Ravishankar Prasad said former party leader B S Yeddyurappa took away "good portion of our votes."
However, he defended the decision on distancing from Yeddyurappa as there was "serious issue of corruption and Lokayukta also took a cognizance". The party tried its best to accomodate Yeddyurappa but did not accede to "Yeddyurappa's my way or highway attitude".
"Certain issues are non-negotiable and corruption is one such issue," he said adding, "since 1989, one who wins Karnataka loses Lok Sabha. So I am sure we will win Lok Sabha," he said.
