Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has postponed its tomorrow’s legislature party meeting to May 21, party sources said today. The postponment of the meeting, scheduled to honour the newly elected MPs, was necessitated as chief minister B S Yeddyurappa would be away in Delhi tomorrow to attend a meeting of the party ruled chief ministers and other leaders, the sources said.
The ruling BJP won 19 of the 28 seats, leaving six to Congress and three to JD(S) in the Lok Sabha election. Overcoming a determined opposition bid to stem the saffron surge, the ruling BJP in Karnataka has further consolidated its base by making inroads into new areas at the expense of Congress and JD(S) in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP, which stormed to power in the southern state for the first time in May 2008 assembly elections, not only retained 14 seats, but also wrested four, including three — Raichur (ST), Koppal and Chitradurga (SC) from the Congress and one from the Samajwadi Party. The ruling BJP, however, lost Mysore to the Congress. Securing an impressive mandate winning 19 of the 28 seats, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has consolidated its hold within the party and emerged stronger as a dependable leader for the saffron party in the South.
Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat leader, had steered the BJP to victory in the 2008 Assembly polls, installing the first ever saffron party government in a Southern state. Preliminary analysis shows, BJP enhanced its votes share to 42.33 per cent in this election, compared to 34.77 per cent secured in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls in which it won 18 seats. Despite Congress improving its vote percentage from 36.82 to 38.32,the number of seats it won fell from eight to six. The major loser is JDS headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda as its share of votes dropped to 13.34 per cent from 20.45 per cent.However, JD(S) has increased its tally of two seats to three now.
The BJP also managed to retain its hold in Haveri, carved out of Dharward South and Dharwad North and Udupi-Chikmagalur that was combined when the parliamentary constituencies were redrawn as part of the delimitation exercise.
