As per the current trends, Congress looks set to return to power in Karnataka, former Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa has accepted BJP's defeat at the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023. “Victory and defeat are not new to BJP… Party workers need not be panicked by these results,” said former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, after the party conceded defeat to Congress in the recently held assembly polls. Yediyurappa said that the BJP will “introspect” about the party’s setback in the state. He further said that the BJP started with only two seats in Karnataka and had grown to form the government in the state on its own strength.
Yediyurappa had served as the chief minister of Karnataka for first two years since the BJP came to power in 2019 following the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. He had stepped down, paving way for Basavaraj Bommai to take over the post. Earlier in the day, Bommai conceded defeat and said the BJP had not been able to make a mark. “We have not been able to make the mark. The Congress has done it successfully… Once the results come we will do a detailed analysis. As a national party, we will not only analyse but also see what deficiencies and gaps were left at various levels. We take this result in our stride," the sitting chief minister of Karnataka said.In the previous Karnataka Assembly polls in 2018 election, BJP had emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats but had fallen short of the majority mark of 113. The Congress had won 80 while the JD(S) had secured win on 37.