By IANS,
Ahmedabad : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) victory in Karnataka would mark the beginning of the end for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
He also described as “a big achievement” the maiden victory the BJP has scored in southern India on its own strength.
“The Karnataka results are in keeping with the expectations of the BJP,” Modi told Times Now television channel. “This is the first time the BJP has got a clear mandate on its own in the southern state.”
Modi, who campaigned extensively in Karnataka, pointed out that the BJP had earlier won in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. “Now we are winning in Karnataka.”
The chief minister said the condition of the Congress had “gone from bad to worse” with each election in recent years that it has lost.
Asked why the BJP won in Karnataka, he said the UPA had failed to fulfil the expectations of the people.
He added that voters in Karnataka had also punished “the politics of betrayal” – a reference to the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) decision not to share power with his party despite its promise to do so.
He warned that the Congress would find it difficult to inject life into the multi-party UPA ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“The Congress will fail to build the confidence in the UPA that they will be able to work and win elections. The disintegration of the UPA … has begun.”