Editorial: Morale booster for BJP

The results bear the clear stamp of Karnataka's traditional politics being at play and voting along caste lines, with the dominant Lingayat community pitching solidly for its candidate Mr Yediyurappa. It had no hesitation in doing so as the BJP had clearly projected him as its chief ministerial candidate. The BJP's campaign began by seeking to exploit the sympathy factor in view of the way it was betrayed by the Janata Dal (Secular). But when the BJP found that the sympathy factor was waning, it switched to the tested formula of focusing on inflation and terrorism. The BJP seems to have gained from the sentiment that it deserves a chance as also the negative factors working against the other two main political parties, Congress and JD(S). The latter has fared miserably, its seats tally going down by more than half. This gives a measure of the popular disapproval of its role in the last four years and the continuing decline of H D Deve Gowda, whose following is now reduced to its core Vokkaliga support base.

As for the Congress, it appears to have been hoist with its own petard of inefficiency and factionalism. It was late in announcing its list of candidates and paid for this by having to contend with a sizeable number of rebel candidates. It suffered from having too many leaders heading too many factions and the inability to project an agreed leader. S M Krishna failed to work his magic. Maybe he was brought in too late but he is bound to be faulted for two reasons. He could not pull the Vokkaligas behind the Congress and also the urban voters of Bangalore, among whom he is supposedly popular. In Bangalore, the BJP won 17 seats and the Congress 10. The turnout in Bangalore was an appalling 44 per cent. What should set the Congress thinking is the way it has squandered the chance presented to it by the sharp rise in the number of urban seats in and around Bangalore as a result of the delimitation exercise. Two senior Congress ministers, including former chief minister Dharam Singh, have lost. Only former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah was able to rally behind him the backward Kuruba voters. While the results will be a morale booster for the BJP nationally, it is still too early suggest that they portend what can happen in the parliamentary polls next year. The campaign yielded no clear issues and not just caste but also money played a big role in influencing results.