BENGALURU: Former ministers Janardhana Reddy and V Somanna’s “intemperate and callous statements” are being cited as one of the main causes for BJP’s crushing defeat in the recent bypoll to the Ballari Lok Sabha segment.
Reddy had attributed former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Rakesh’s death to “sins committed by former CM”. The statement did not go down well with the electorate. V Somanna, during a campaign rally for BJP candidate Shantha in Ballari, had announced that Shantha’s brother Sriramulu will be the party’s CM candidate in the next election to woo the Nayaka community votes in the bypoll.
BJP, has in its internal report on the causes for its debacle in the bypoll, is said to have highlighted the above “mistakes” for a significant segment of its traditional Lingayat voters voting for the Congress as the community felt Yeddyurappa is being sidelined.Reddy’s statement on Siddaramaiah earned the wrath of not just Kurubas, but even a segment of Nayaka community. The bypoll in Ballari was allowed to be a one man show of Sriramulu, the report is said to have noted.
The report has observed that the party would have performed much better even in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency if it had fielded a strong, committed leader from BJP instead of a newly inducted green horn like Dr Siddaramaiah. In Ramanagara, “betrayal by party candidate Chandrashekar”, who retired from contest, embarrassed the party.