BJP enters Bengaluru’s Congress bastions

Tejasvi Surya, D V Sadananda Gowda and PC Mohan win by big margins on Congress turf
BJP supporters celebrate their party's victory in the general elections. (Photo | AP)
BJP supporters celebrate their party's victory in the general elections. (Photo | AP)

BENGALURU: BJP candidates from Bengaluru, who won with landslide victories, got more votes from Congress and JDS MLA assembly constituencies. The Modi wave, and the fact that all is not well between the allies, cost the coalition candidates heavily and ensured that they failed to open their account in Bengaluru.

Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore North), D V Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore South) and PC Mohan (Bangalore Central) who won with big margins, were able to pick up more votes in Congress MLA constituencies. Sitting MLA and senior minister in the coalition government, Krishna Byregowda, who contested against Sadananda Gowda, lost to the BJP though he has thrice represented Byatarayanapura assembly constituency. In 2018, he polled over 1.37 lakh voter in Byatarayanapura, and in 2019, to 1.3 lakh votes, but lost the big battle in his own assembly constituency. 

Bengaluru North has eight assembly constituencies, of which five are represented by Congress MLAs, two from JDS and one from BJP. Krishna Byregowda scored less votes from Yeshwanthpur, Hebbal, Byatarayanapura assembly constituencies represented by Congress, and even lesser from Dasarahalli and Mahalakshmilayout constituencies which are represented by JDS MLAs. 
When contacted, Krishna Byregowda said this result had nothing to do with the coalition. “If we take previous elections into account, voting patterns in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha are different,’’ he said. 

Bengaluru Central also has eight assembly constituencies, five represented by Congress and three from BJP. Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad scored well from Congress MLA constituencies including Sarvajnanagar, Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar and Chamarajpet. But in Gandhinagar, which is represented by KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Rizwan got lesser votes than BJP’s PC Mohan.  Votes from Rajajinagar and Mahadevapura assembly constituencies, which are represented by BJP MLAs, helped cement Mohan’s victory. 

In 2018, Congress and JDS had together scored 83,989 votes which dropped to 46,191 in 2019. On the other hand, BJP which scored 37,284 in 2018 election got by 70,914 votes in 2019. 
Bengaluru South, which has five BJP MLAs and three Congress MLAs, saw the entire constituency favouring BJP. Former Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy and his daughter Soumya Ramalinga Reddy from Congress, who represent BTM layout and Jayanagar assembly constituencies, failed to get more votes for their candidates. 

A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said they had the better candidate in all three constituencies, but only lost the seat due to then joining hands with the JDS. “We were hoping to win Bengaluru Central and North Lok Sabha constituencies,’’ he added. 

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