The Hindu Business Line : Krishna owns responsibility for defeat

SENSING the trend, which became clear from the early hours of the counting, the incumbent Chief Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, this afternoon submitted his resignation to the Governor, Mr T.N. Chaturvedi.

Mr Krishna, who led the Congress (I) Government after an impressive victory in the 1999 hustings, owned moral responsibility for the defeat of his party in the Assembly elections.

Speaking to media persons after his resignation, Mr Krishna said: "It is a total rejection of the Congress (I) administration by the electorate. I felt that calling for an early election was correct... , I own up the responsibility for calling for an early election and also being the main campaigner for the election".

The State Assembly was dissolved in February, even while its tenure was till October this year.

"I was not ready for such a verdict," said Mr Krishna adding, "perhaps people's grievances have not been addressed in the manner they would have expected".

On the question of the Congress (I) supporting Janata Dal (S) to from the Government, if it emerged as the single largest party, Mr Krishna said it was for the party high command to take a decision.

He answered in the negative when asked if he had spoken to Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, leader of Janata Dal (S), regarding forming a secular government in the State.

About his own future in the State or at the Centre, if his party and its allies formed the Government, Mr Krishna said: "people have rejected me. That is the deduction I have drawn."

He ruled out that bias towards IT and polices favourable to the urban population were the factors for the party's rejection and said, "I reject the theory".

He said his party had drawn up schemes for rural development and uplifting of the population through `Akshara Dosha' (literacy campaign), relief package to farmers affected by drought and various other steps to improve the economic conditions of the rural poor. He did not foresee any setback to investments coming into the State and hoped that the new government would not neglect this aspect.

``Neither will the Silicon Valley status of Bangalore suffer," he declared.