Both the Congress and the JD(S) appeared to brush aside their campaign bitterness to try and deny power to the BJP. Sorting out their chemistry may be easier said than done but it’s their political arithmetic that’s of serious electoral consequence to the BJP. A pooling of the votes secured by the Congress and JD(S) (and its pre-alliance partner BSP) suggests that the BJP could have been reduced to merely 68 Assembly seats if both these rivals had come together before the elections. And the coalition would have got 156.