MYSURU: The ruling Congress scored a big win in the bypolls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet constituencies, shattering BJP’s hopes of stealing the thunder in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home turf.
Both the seats were held by the Congress and BJP did all it could to wrest them, making the bypolls a prestigious battle ahead of the assembly elections to be held in the state in about a year.
And it was celebration time for Siddaramaiah on Thursday as he delivered the sweet victory amid the gloom of setbacks for the party in other states. An elated Siddaramaiah sounded the bugle for the 2018 assembly elections saying he will not only be leading the campaign for the Congress, but will also contest elections.
As Siddaramaiah headed to Hotel Janardhan in Kumarapark area in Bengaluru to savour his favourite masala dosa in the evening, the feeling of elation was palpable. The result had not only silenced his detractors in the party but also raised his stock in the eyes of the high command.
Congress’ Kalale Keshavamurthy defeated his BJP rival V Srinivasa Prasad in Nanjangud by a margin of 21,334 votes. In Gundlupet, Congress candidate Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, riding on sympathy wave, defeated BJP’s Niranjan Kumar by 10,877 votes. She got a good chunk of Veerashaiva votes too due to large following and popularlity of her late husband H S Mahadeva Prasad.
BJP too had played the sympathy card for Nirajan Kumar who had lost twice earlier. The strategy failed to impress the voters.
Shocked by the huge defeat, Prasad, who had defected to the BJP after being dropped from the cabinet and fought the polls on the plank of ‘Dalit Pride and self-respect of voters of Nanjangud’, announced his retirement from electoral politics.
The defeat also came as a rude shock for the BJP which had touted the bypolls as a trailer for the 2018 assembly elections. The BJP had projected the bypolls as a straight fight between B S Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah.
Expectations of a close fight vanished as counting began on Thursday morning with Congress candidates securing comfortable initial lead, and they managed to sustain it till the end.