People of Karnataka have whole heartedly accepted agenda of the first ever BJP government in the South and blessed Yeddyurappa again. This time with more love and affection. Out of 28 seats BJP won 19 seats and lost 2 seats in a narrow margin of 4,000 to 7,691 votes. In fact it is a clear indication that voters of Karnataka endorse the working style of Yeddyurappa and his vision to transform Karnataka into more developed State. All sections of people including Muslims, Christians and dalits are rejoicing the leadership of Yeddyurappa and have showered him with such a clear mandate that whole country is praising the achievement of Yeddyurappa Government.
Karnataka elected maximum number of BJP MPs (19). Popularity of BJP is growing in Karnataka. Vote share of the party is ever increasing and soon it may influence other states in the south to follow the suit. While speaking to Organiser, Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa expressed his willingness to strengthen the party in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Kerala where the BJP is in a critical position. His experience in boosting the party in Karnataka can be put into use by spreading the party base to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala where none of the BJP MP’s are elected.
Senior BJP leader, Deputy Chairman of State Planning Commission and former minister DH Shankarmurthy spoke to Organiser and said, diluting the ideology may be the reason for a defeat to NDA at the Centre. “Varun Gandhi sticked to the ideology and he won”, he said. He however expressed the feeling that future will be more bright for BJP as there will be one single largest party ruling at the Centre, instead of mixture of parties, and BJP can work effectively by sitting in the Opposition and expose the misrule of the Congress. He further added that hard work and consistency in taking up the new projects by newly elected BJP MP’s can further improve the image of the party in the national level and also help the State government to get more grants from the Centre. Justice Dr M Rama Jois, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and former Governor of Jharkhand and Bihar said, “I will write a letter to Shri Advani to lead the party in this crucial time”. According to Dr Jois BJP may have missed the target in the 15th Lok Sabha elections but BJP ruling states are more in number than Congress ruling states, and gracefully sitting in the Opposition will provide an excellent opportunity for the BJP to come to power in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, in a Press meet at the media centre inside information department, said that though BJP had 18 seats in the previous Lok Sabha elections, then BJP MP from Shimoga S Bangarappa resigned to BJP and contested successfully , again from the same constituency on a Samajwadi Party ticket in the Lok Sabha by-election. Then BJP MP from Bidar contituency, Ramachandra Veerappa died due to old age and the Congress won the by-election. Hence BJP actually had 16 MP’s and now with 19 MP’s, BJP has gained 3 Lok Sabha seats.
For the BJP victory was not easy in Dakshina Kannada parliamentary constituency. With the infamous pub attack issue and church attack issue at Mangalore, everyone including media had predicted that the Congress will easily win from there. The logic was that BJP candidate, Nalin Kumar Kateel, was an ordinary party worker without any hi-profile background but the Congress nominee was the former Union Minister and former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president and a popular senior Congress leader Janardhana Poojari. Yeddyurappa’s image and BJP and RSS workers united tireless effort ensured BJP’s victory there. Significant point to note that Nalin Kumar Kateeel has secured 4,99,385 votes, which is the highest score in Karnataka. He defeated his rival Poojari by 40,420 votes.
Karnataka State unit BJP chief, DV Sadananda Gowda won Udupi-Chikmagalur parliamentary constituency by securing 4,01,441 votes against K Jayaprakash Hegde of Congress who scored 3,74,423 votes. Janardhan Swamy, a fresh face to BJP, a software professional and a NRI won the Chitradurga (SC) constituency by securing 3,70,920 votes as against his rival Dr B Thippeswamy of Congress who secured 2,35,349 votes. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had canvassed in this constituency seeking the support for the Congress candidate Thippeswamy. In Tumkur constituency, GS Basavaraju of BJP trounced the strong JD(S) candidate SP Muddahanumegowda. Here Basavaraju polled 33,31,064 votes against Muddahanumegowda who secured 3,09,619 votes. Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda set a record by winning from Hassan constituency by a huge victory margin of 2,91,113 votes. He got 4,96,429 votes against BJP’s KH Hanume Gowda’s 2,05,316 while Congress candidate B Shivramu has to be contented with 2,01,147 votes.
In all the three Bengaluru seats, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru Central and Bengaluru South, Congress candidates were ahead till the completion of three rounds of counting. In front of the counting areas, both the Congress and the BJP party workers were anxiously waiting for the outcome of the result. There was tension till the counting of last round in Bengaluru Central. It resembled a one day cricket match. Later BJP bagged all the three prestigious seats and BJP took out a celebration procession in different parts of the city. BJP’s national leader and BJP’s national general secretary, Ananth Kumar , won from Bengaluru South by defeating a strong Congress candidate and the president of Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress, Krishna Byregowda by 37,612 votes. Ananth Kumar secured 4,37,953 votes while Krishna Byregowda secured 4,00,341 votes. In Bengaluru Central BJP’s PC Mohan, an ex-MLA, secured 3,40,162 votes against his rival Congress nominee HT Sangliana who scored 3,04,944 votes. During the previous elections Sangliana had won the then Bengaluru North seat as a BJP’s nominee. He had migrated to Congress after BJP suspended him for supporting the Congress over nuclear deal. His ambition to get elected again was marred by JD(S) candidate BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, a sitting MLA from Chamrajpet Assembly Constituency. Interestingly there was a fight among, nicknamed, ‘Amar, Akbar, Anthony’ here, as BJP nominee was a Hindu, JD(S) candidate was a Muslim while Congress candidate was a Christian. Both Muslim and Christian voters are dominating factors in this constituency and ultimately BJP won the seat. Bengaluru North had a former Union Railway Minister CK Jaffer Shariff, from Congress and DB Chandregowda from the BJP in the fray. Interestingly DB Chandre-gowda, former State minister and a senior Congress leader had joined BJP few weeks before the election. He won the seat by securing 4,52,920 votes against Jaffer Shariff who secured 3,93,255 votes. Here JD(S) nominee, politically novice, R Surencdra Babu secured 1,10,983 votes. There was a stiff fight between the BJP and the Congress at Bellary (ST). BJP candidate Joladarshi Shanta, sister of Sriramulu, the sitting minister in the Yeddyurappa Cabinet, secured 4,02,213 votes against her Congress rival NY Hanumanthappa who secured 3,99,970 and became a lone woman MP to represent Karnataka. This slender margin of 2,243 votes is the lowest victory margin in Karnataka and Hanumanthappa is planning to move to the court, as his application for recounting was turned down by the electorate officers.
Mysore, Chamrajanagar, Chickballapur, Kolar (SC), Gulbarga and Bidar seats have gone to Congress while JD(S) candidates won Hassan, Bengaluru Rural and Mandya seats . Mandya seat was won by Cheluvaraya Swamy of JD(S) by defeating former Union Minister and a popular cine star Ambareesh, a Congress nominee. Former Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily won the Chickballapur seat by defeating his rival BJP’s C Ashwathnarayana. Here Congress got 3,90,500 votes while BJP bagged 3,39,119 votes. KH Muniyappa, Union Minister and a Congress candidate won Kolar (SC) seat by securing 3,44,771 votes against BJP’s DS Veeraiah who scored 3,21,765 votes. Kolar was considered Congress’s strong hold but BJP getting nearly 3.5 lakh votes proves that BJP is growing everywhere across the State. Veeraiah, the sitting MLC, has done a good job by garnering a huge chunk of votes. BJP lost both the Mysore and Chamrajanagar seats by a narrow margin. R Dhruvanarayana, Congress candidate and the sitting MLA won the Chamarajnagar seat by securing 3,69,970 votes as against the BJP’s AR Krishnamurthy who secured 3,65,968 votes and M Shivanna of JD(S) has secured 1,06,876 votes. Adagur H Vishwanath of Congress won the prestigious Mysore seat by securing 3,54,810 votes while his rival BJP’s CH Vijayashankar secured 3,47,119 votes. JD(S) candidate BA Jivijaya stood at the third place by securing 2,16,283 votes. Senior Congress leaders Dharam Singh, former chief minister and former KPCC president Mallikarjun Kharge have won from Bidar and Gulbarga respectively. In Gulbarga, Mallikarjun Kharge defeated BJP’s candidate and the sitting Minister for Animal Husbandry, Revunaik Belamgi. While Kharge secured 3,45,241 votes Beamgi secured 3,31,837 votes. Bidar seat was won by N Dharam Singh of Congress who defeated Gurupadappa Nagmarpalli by 39,619 votes. There were four former chief ministers namely HD Kumara Swamy of JD(S) from Bengaluru Rural constituency, Veerappa Moily of Congress from Chickballapur constituency and N Dharam Singh of Congress from Bidar constituency who had contested and they won the fight but S Bangarappa of Congress, lost the battle in Shimoga. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra has won Shimoga seat by defeating S Bangarappa by a huge margin of 52,893 votes.
Constituency wise analysis
Comments