Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said that he lost the Lok Sabha elections from the Chikkaballapur seat in Karnataka because of the coalition between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular). Moily lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s BN Bache Gowda by a margin of 1,82,110 votes.

“Of course, the Congress, including myself, we lost because of this alliance,” Moily told Times Now in response to a question. He admitted that Janata Dal (Secular) workers did not support Congress candidates in the campaign.

The alliance won just two out of 28 seats in Karnataka, while 25 went to the BJP. Moily said it was important to “learn lessons, not unlearn lessons” from the defeat. “We need to build the party,” he said. “Alliance is not a substitution for building a party, whether it is the Congress or the Janata Dal.”

However, he added that the need of the hour is to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka, and therefore the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) need to work together. Asked whether the Congress would keep up its alliance at the cost of performing well in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Moily replied in the negative. However, he added that the alliance is necessary for the well-being of the state and to maintain its “secular fabric”.

There has been turmoil in the alliance for several months, though both Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders have asserted that the government will not collapse. On May 26, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party President BS Yeddyurappa had said that he is ready to face elections if the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government decides to dissolve the Assembly.

However, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday reiterated that there was no threat to the coalition. His views were backed up by Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara.