MYSORE: Congress has suffered setback in the assembly polls owing to local factors and there is no Narendra Modi wave in the nation, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah asserted on Sunday.
On a day when his party received severe drubbing at the polls, Siddaramaiah sought to downplay his Gujarat counterpart’s contribution to the BJP’s gain. “Yelri ide (Modi) ale (where is the wave),” he shot back when asked whether the results could be because of Modi’s effect. The assembly results are neither reflective of the political mood in the nation nor will have an impact on the Lok Sabha polls early next year. “Just because we are down, it doesn’t mean we will not win the parliamentary polls,” he told reporters.
When asked the reverses suffered at Delhi, he said: “Didn’t we rule it for 15 years?” He said vote to Aam Aadmi Party could indicate a yearning for change among the voters. Congress has lost polls in the past and has learnt lessons. We need to examine as to why we lost the polls, he said but contended that parliamentary polls are a different ball game. For one, issues will be different, he stated adding that the loss cannot be attributed to any one leader but is a collective failure.
