With his approach based on 3 pillars — mass outreach, visible leadership & enthusiastic cadre — D. K. Shivakumar had kept up pressure on the BJP government consistently.
Ministers who lost their seats include Deputy CM & Minister of Major-Medium Irrigation Govind Karjol, and V. Somanna, the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure Development.
BJP changed strategy closer to polls and sought to underplay Hindutva, but reverted to it in last leg of campaign. While campaigning, trio frequently spoke about Tipu Sultan, hijab, halal.
At a strike rate of 45%, Assam CM has done the best — the party won 5 of 11 seats where he addressed rallies. UP CM Adityanath and Amit Shah had strike rate of 44 & 34%.
While the party has won 19 seats in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, its tally in 11 Vokkaliga-dominated districts of south Karnataka, a traditional JD(S) support base, is just 15 of 73 seats.
BJP tally went down from 30 to 16 in the region. Anger among sections of Lingayats was a major factor as several religious & community leaders asked followers not to back the party.
SDPI is the political wing of Islamist organisation PFI. This election was the first since PFI was banned by Union govt. Karnataka has a 13 per cent Muslim population.
Kudos to the Congress for maintaining an edge over BJP in public perception. The only solace for the BJP is that it’s out of power but not out of the state.
From Munir’s point of view, a few bumps here and there is par for the course. He isn’t going to drive his dumper truck to its doom. He wants to use it as a weapon.
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