Rulling party wrests seat from Congress
In a mixed outcome for the ruling BJP in Karnataka, the party today wrested one seat from the Congress and lost another to the JD(S) in the by-elections to Gulbarga South and Kadur Assembly constituencies.
In the byelections held on September 13, BJP’s Y C Vishwanath, a medical practitioner, won by over 13,000 votes in Kadur, held earlier by the Congress. But in Gulbarga South, BJP failed to retain its seat with JD(S) candidate Aruna Patil romping home by over 3,000 votes over Congress’s Ajay Singh, son of former Chief Minister Dharam Singh.
The Congress suffered a double jolt as it not only lost Kadur but also its candidate Ajay Singh failed to taste success in elections for the second time despite Gulbarga being considered Dharam Singh’s stronghold. Congress had played for high stakes in Gulbarga, where Dharam Singh and Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge had campaigned extensively, and in Kadur, hoping to cash in on the success of its recent 302 km padayatra against BJP rule.
The two seats fell vacant following the deaths of BJP’s Chandrasekhara Patil Revoor (Gulbarga South) and Congress’ K M Krishnamurthy (Kadur). Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had himself campaigned for BJP candidate Sushil Namoshi, an MLC, but ended up conceding defeat to the JD(S) which roped in the wife of late Revoor and successfully rode on sympathy wave.
In Kadur, Congress’ K M Kemparaju, brother of Krishnamurthy failed to generate any sympathy wave. JD(S) nominee and party spokesperson Y S V Datta also failed in his second bid for the same seat.
Congress padyatra ineffective, says BJP
The ruling BJP in Karnataka today said the loss of Congress in both the assembly seats that went to bypolls showed its Bellary padayatra on mining issue was 'ineffective' and described its own defeat in Gulbarga South as ‘unexpected’. “The Congress lost in both which shows that the padyatra has been ineffective. They failed to retain even their seat in Kadur which clearly indicates that people want to vote for improvement and have done so,” Home Minister Dr V S Acharya said here. “We had hoped to win both the seats but the defeat in Gulbarga South was unexpected", he said attributing the victory of JD(S) candidate Aruna Patil to “sympathy wave”.
In the prestigious byelections held on September 13, BJP's Y C Vishwanath wrested the Kadur seat but failed to retain Gulbarga South where Patil defeated Congress's Ajay Singh, son of former Chief Minister Dharam Singh. The Congress had last month undertaken a 302-km padayatra from Bangalore to Bellary on the issue of illegal mining.
State unit BJP President K S Eshwarappa expressed satisfaction over the results. The outcome had shown the Congress cannot continue to ‘divide’ people in the name of caste, he said referring to the party's defeat in Kadur.
In Gulbarga South, the electorate have rejected 'dynastic politics' by dumping Congress nominee, Ajay Singh, he said. He defended the BJP's decision to deny ticket to Aruna, wife of late BJP MLA Chandrasekhara Patil Revoor, standing for elections on a JDS ticket, saying she was fielded due to 'indiscipline'. He sought to downplay victory of JDS in Gulbarga by ascribing it to the sympathy factor. The poll verdict was also against the leadership of Siddaramaiah, Dharam Singh and Union Labour Minister Mallikajun Kharge, he claimed. He said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa planned to expand his ministry within a month.
