Newsroom, Nov 6: By winning both assembly seats and two out of three Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka bypolls, the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition has succeeded in giving a major blow to Bharatiya Janata Party, which had dreamt of overthrowing the state government through ‘Operation Lotus’ after the results.
The BJP faced massive defeats in the Lok Sabha segments of Bellary, Mandya and the Assembly segments of Jamakhandi and Ramanagara. The only respite for BJP in May 3 bypolls, the results of which were announced today is that it has managed to retain Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency vacated by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.
The poll results marked beginning of Diwali festivities in Karnataka. There is a festive atmosphere in both Congress and JD(S) while BJP slipped to introspection mode. “Time for genuine introspection,” tweeted BJP spokesperson S Suresh Kumar.
As it stands now, the Congress-JD(S) alliance seems to have passed the litmus test and there is now a case for a “secular” alliance that can take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Bellary Lok Sabha bypoll was supposed to have been a nail-biter as the BJP and the Congress carried out high-decibel campaigns. However, it is turning out to be a one-sided contest - Congress’ V S Ugrappa has polled 3.70 lakh votes whereas BJP’s J Shantha has polled 2.19 lakh votes - a huge margin of 1.51 lakh.
In the Mandya Lok Sabha segment, the BJP fielded former bureaucrat Dr Siddaramaiah, whose "clean image" it hoped could give it leverage over JD(S) leader L R Shivarame Gowda. However, Shivaramegowda is leading by 1.60 lakh votes.
Similarly, the saffron party was confident that Shrikant Kulkarni could wrest the seat from the Congress. However, Kulkarni has managed to poll 42,671 votes so far against Congress’ Anand Nyamagouda who is leading with 71,787.
As far as Ramanagara Assembly constituency is concerned, the BJP virtually conceded defeat after its candidate L Chandrashekhar backed off 48 hours before voting day on November 3. This reflects in the result so far - JD(S) candidate Anitha Kumaraswamy has polled 69,269 votes, whereas Chandrashekhar has secured only 9,502 votes.
In an apparent consolation, the BJP is sensing victory in the Shimoga Lok Sabha seat. However, the Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate Madhu Bangarappa has polled 2.22 lakh votes to put up a decent fight against BJP’s BY Raghavendra who has polled 2.50 lakh votes.
“This is a clear message that people are moving away from the BJP,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
Comments
Add new comment