In a desperate attempt to hold on to Karnataka, the Indian National Congress have extended their support to JDS in order to form the government in the state after BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell short of the magic figure as per the afternoon trends on Tuesday.

“We had a telephonic conversation with Deve Gowda ji & Kumaraswamy. They have accepted our offer. Hopefully, we will be together,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha.

As per the trends in the afternoon, BJP are leading in 104 seats, while Congress are reduced 78 and JDS have their noses in front in 38 constituencies. With the magic number being 112, Karnataka is heading for a hung assembly.

Gauging this, the Congress have acted promptly, making their first move to join hands with JDS and defeat BJP.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too went to say that they are willing to support JDS and allow its chief minister to take over. “We will support the JD(S) in forming the government,” said Siddaramaiah.

However, the Congress did acknowledge the fact that they had been beaten by BJP in yet another election.

“We accept the mandate of the people. We bow our heads to the verdict. We don’t have numbers to form govt. The Congress has offered to support JD(S) to form govt,” said Congress leader G. Parameshwara.