Overcoming the drubbing suffered in the assembly elections in 2013, the BJP has once again proved its dominance in North Karnataka and coastal Karnataka by bagging 11 of the 14 Lok
Sabha seats. The results announced on Friday have proved that people in the region still favour BJP when it comes to Lok Sabha elections.
In 2009, BJP had swept the polls in the region by winning Koppal, Bellary, Raichur, Dharwad, Haveri, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Belgaum, Chikkodi, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha seats while Congress had prevailed in Bidar, Gulbarga and Udupi-Chikmagalur.
This time around, the BJP has managed to wrest the Bidar seat with Bhagawant Khooba trouncing sitting MP Dharam Singh of the Congress and BJP’s Shobha Karandlaje ousting sitting MP Jayaprakash Hegde (Congress) in Udupi-Chikmagalur. However, the Congress has managed to bag Chikkodi and Raichur seats with Prakash Hukkeri (Congress) defeating sitting MP Ramesh Katti (BJP) in Chikkodi and B V Nayak (Congress) trouncing BJP candidate Shivanaguda Nayak in Raichur.
For BJP state president Prahlad Joshi (Dharwad), Ramesh Jigajinagi (Bijapur), P C Gaddigoudar (Bagalkot), Suresh Angadi (Belgaum), Anant Kumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada) it was a hat trick of victories. BJP nominees Nalinkumar Kateel (Dakshina Kannada), Shivakumar Udasi (Haveri) and Congress candidate and outgoing railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge (Gulbarga) have retained their seats. Karadi Sanganna helped BJP retain the seat in Koppal.
Efforts by Congress to wrest the Belgaum seat from the BJP by fielding a woman, Laxmi Hebbalkar, did not yield result.
The BJP first had the taste of victory in Mumbai Karnataka area in 1996 thanks to Vajpayee wave. It went on to retain the seats in subsequent elections too.
In Haveri, the defeat for Congress was not unexpected as it has been fielding Muslim candidates who do not belong to the constituency. RDPR minister H K Patil had lobbied hard with the party high command for a ticket for his cousin D R Patil in a bid to win the elusive Haveri seat but in vain. The Congress again named Salim Ahmed who eventually lost.
In Bellary, B Sriramulu replaced his sister G Shanta as BJP nominee and won.
Modi wave largely helped BJP to present a good show. Added to this was return of B S Yeddyurappa to the party and support from Lingayats who form a major component of electorate.
On the contrary Congress has been faction ridden with senior leaders failing to bridge the gap. The intra-party feuds have cost the party dear.
