"Need New Blood, New Thinking": B Bommai To NDTV After Karnataka Loss

Asked what were the lessons drawn from the Karnataka results, Basavaraj Bommai listed three reasons for the Congress victory.

Karnataka's outgoing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who led the party's campaign in the recently concluded assembly elections, told NDTV today that the Congress started its campaigning early and the BJP messaging went awry in the state.  

The BJP, which was ruling the state, won 66 of the 224 assembly seats. The Congress won 135 and HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular 19 seats.

Asked what were the lessons drawn from the results, Mr Bommai listed three reasons for the Congress victory. The people, he said, were "swayed by freebies".  

Then, "Personally I feel that the Congress was more organised and started earlier, which otherwise BJP used to do... We took our decisions a little late, acted late," he told NDTV in the exclusive interview.