BENGALURU: BJP has yet again proved that Bengaluru is its bastion by retaining all three Lok Sabha seats - Bangalore Central, North and South. Also, it has snatched Bangalore Rural, which also has urban voters, from Congress.
While city voters have preferred BJP for over a decade, the ruling Congress, which banked heavily on its five guarantee schemes, has once again failed to put an end to the winning spree of the saffron party in the state capital.
The verdict has come as a setback for Congress, especially Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the minister for Bengaluru Development. His promises to give a facelift to the city under ‘Brand Bengaluru’ appears to have not convinced the voters.
It is a double whammy for Shivakumar, the state Congress chief, with no gains in the city and his brother DK Suresh losing in Bengaluru Rural. Despite a major share in the cabinet, the ministers from Bengaluru too could not do much in reversing the trend.
While having a committed voter base turned out to be the biggest advantage for BJP, it is also said the lack of proper strategy in place and fielding new faces didn’t yield expected results for the Grand Old Party. Apart from former Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, who contested from Bangalore South, both Prof MV Rajeev Gowda (Bangalore North) and Mansoor Ali Khan (Bangalore South) had not contested elections earlier.
Also, developmental projects taking a backseat in the city might have worked against Congress. If the parliamentary election results are any indicator, Congress has to come up with new strategies as the long-pending Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections are set to be held in a few months.