Bengaluru: The BJP has won both the seats in Karnataka that went to bypolls on 3 November. The hotly-contested seats of Sira and Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) were won by Dr Rajesh Gowda, a new candidate, and Congress rebel N. Munirathna, respectively.
As of 5 pm, Gowda was leading by 12,949 votes over Congress warhorse T.B. Jayachandra. Amamajmma of the Janata Dal (Secular), wife of B. Sathyanarayana whose death necessitated the bypoll, was in the third position.
At RR Nagar in Bengaluru, the final result has been declared, with Munirathna winning by 58,113 votes. The Congress’ H. Kusuma came second with 67,798 votes and Krishnamurthi of the JD(S), third.
The wins in the two seats are likely to silence the critics of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who has been at the centre of a volley of rumours suggesting he may be on his way out of the government. The factors cited in such speculation are his age (77 years), the BJP leadership’s “resentment” with what is seen as Yediyurappa’s unilateral style of functioning, and discontent within the local BJP against him, especially since the alleged emergence of his son — Karnataka BJP vice-president B.Y. Vijayendra — as a power centre within the government.
“Our win in both seats is a result of Yediyurappa ji’s leadership and people’s unstinting trust towards the BJP. They have understood that only our party brings change, development and work for the betterment of the people of Karnataka,” Vijayendra said after the elections. “The lotus has bloomed once again and, this time, it will never wither.”
The results of the two bypolls will only strengthen the Karnataka government, which already established a majority in the assembly after the December 2019 bypolls.
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Vijayendra was tasked with the BJP campaign in Sira, which saw a voter turnout of 84.5 per cent. The turnout in RR Nagar was much lower, at 45.2 per cent.
Winning Sira stands testament to Vijayendra’s organisational acumen, which was also credited with the BJP’s win in the KR Pete byelections last year.
There was, however, one major difference between the two bypolls. KR Pete is the birthplace of Yediyurappa and the BJP aggressively invoked this connection in its campaign. Sira, meanwhile, has been a seat that the BJP had never won before.
Both Sira and RR Nagar are dominated by voters of the Vokkaliga caste — one of the dominant castes in Karnataka — that has traditionally voted for former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) or the Congress. The BJP’s win here appears to be an indication of its growing acceptance in seats that have never voted in favour of them.
The BJP’s win at RR Nagar also sends a strong message from Yediyurappa to his political bosses as the latter were allegedly left displeased by the induction of Congress and JD(S) rebels into the party with the promise of ministerial berths.
For the Congress, the stakes were high in this election, as this was the first under new state party chief D.K. Shivakumar, known as the party’s troubleshooter. RR Nagar is part of the Bengaluru Rural parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Shivakumar’s brother D.K. Suresh.
A senior Congress leader, who requested anonymity, said the majority of the byelections usually go in favour of the ruling party.
“But there was hope that people saw a change under the leadership of D.K. Shivakumar, who also belongs to the Vokkaliga caste and would give us a chance to reorganise and rebuild confidence,” the leader said.
Another Congress leader told The Print that Shivakumar’s decision to handpick Kusuma, the wife of former IAS officer D.K. Ravi who allegedly committed suicide in 2015 as the candidate in RR Nagar, was influenced by advice given to him by astrologers that a woman candidate would help the party win the seat. “Clearly, this astrological gamble proved costly for the Congress.”
For the JD(S), meanwhile, the loss comes amid a shrink in its voterbase and weakening of its traditional hold on the Vokkaliga community.
Talking about the results, political analyst Sandeep Shastri said, “It is clear that the ruling party is carrying more weight and, more importantly, the Congress and the JDS are not being able to get their act together.”
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