Congress loses two Lok Sabha byelections

The Congress suffered a heavy blow today as it lost two crucial Lok Sabha by-elections""Solapur in Maharashtra and Ernakulam in Kerala""by large margins.

Both seats were Congress-held. The Solapur seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sushil Kumar Shinde from the Lok Sabha when he became chief minister and the Lok Sabha MP for Ernakulam, George Eden, died earlier this year.

BJP-Shiv Sena candidate Pratasinh Mohite-Patil won the Solapur seat defeating Anandrao Devkate of the Congress by 1,22,817 votes. In Ernakulam, Left Democratic Front-supported independent Sebastian Paul emerged victorious defeating Congress candidate MO John who was hand-picked by Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony to contest.

"In one seat the Congress lost because of intra-party sabotage. In another it lost because of intra-alliance sabotage," said a party office-bearer.

Amid heavy handed jokes about whether the Congress high command was "I"-witness to its own decimation (a reference to the activities of former Chief Minister K Karunakaran's "I" Congress, which struck a tacit alliance with the CPI(M) to support an Independent candidate also being supported by the LDF) party general secretary Jaipal Reddy conceded that in Kerala the party "had an inkling" about internal party problems and had set up a committee to enquire into activities of Congress leaders before the elections.

He sought to make light of the Solapur election and exonerated the Maharashtra chief minister of any responsibility. He said the election was not a referendum for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

However, both defeats are significant. The Ernakulam seat was won by George Eden by a margin of 125,000 votes. The Congress lost by a margin of 22,000 votes. The seat had been held traditionally for the last 23 years by a representative of the Karunakaran faction in the Congress.

This time, Antony was asked to field a candidate in a calculated decision by the high command that Karunakaran's influence in state politics needed to be curbed.

However, the recent communal incidents in Marad that falls in the constituency and the delay in rehabilitation of minorities was one reason cited by political observers for the defeat. The Muslims in this constituency appeared to have voted en masse for the LDF-supported independent.

When Antony was asked to name a candidate, Karunakaran had warned he would lose. So clearly it was Karunakaran who engineered the defeat in collusion with the party's political rivals.

"My calculations have gone wrong. I expected John to win," an upset Antony told reporters in Kerala. Karunakaran, on the other hand, held the Antony responsible for the defeat.

"I am not a bit surprised at the results. I am not a person who rejoices in the defeat of a Congress candidate. But for this defeat, the chief minister is solely responsible," Karunakaran who had refused to campaign for the party nominee, said.

The situation for the Congress in Maharashtra was not much different. Shinde had won the seat - a general seat - despite being a Scheduled Caste. But BJP nominee trounced Deokate, who is also the dairy development minister by a margin of 122,000 votes, The Nationalist Congress Party's "non participation in the canvassing," was one reason for the defeat political observers point out.

The winner Pratapsinh, though from a different party, is the younger brother of Maharashtra PWD Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, a local sugar baron and NCP strongman.

The Congress won an Assembly by-election in Karnataka.