If the Congress campaign in Karnataka was unique, it had much to do with a rare occurrence for the party: a chief minister apparently calling the shots instead of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.
Siddaramaiah, for the past few months, has strutted the political space as a satrap, akin to a Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, who could decide the political discourse. But the trends of counting for the Assembly polls on Tuesday seem to have all but crushed Siddaramaiah's dreams of an encore of 2013. The fact that Siddaramaiah is trailing in Chamundeshwari, one of the two constituencies he contested from, is a big blow to his credibility, irrespective of the party's performance.
Siddaramaiah's dogged pursuit of the Lingayat 'separate religion' cause and championing of minority welfare, along with populist schemes, seemed oriented to gain political points. But they most likely also aided in religious and caste polarisation in favour of the BJP. Irrespective of the (thin) possibility of a Congress-alliance, Siddaramaiah's profile is set to nosedive.
The 'best' case scenario for Siddaramaiah would be a hotchpotch coalition with the JD(S) with a dalit CM from the Congress such as G. Parameshwara or even Mallikarjun Kharge.
Ironically, the worst case scenario could be in two forms for Siddaramaiah: a BJP government with Yeddyurappa—who Siddaramaiah labelled as 'mentally disturbed' just two days ago—as CM or a Congress-JD(S) coalition with H.D. Kumaraswamy as CM.
Depending on the party that he was part of for decades before being expelled in 2005 will rankle with Siddaramaiah, who may have lost out on the chance to be the Congress' last satrap.