The saying “United we stand, divided we fall” applies to the ruling BJP, which has failed to put an “impressive” fight against its arch rival Congress in the elections held to 207 Urban Local Bodies, including seven city corporations.
The BJP, for the first time, faced the poll battle without former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa who entered the poll arena with his new regional party Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Although, the KJP has failed to make an impressive debut, it has certainly managed to win a considerable number of seats in like Chitradurga, Shimoga, Tumkur, Chamarajangar, Hassan, Haveri, Bidar and Gulbarga districts . The seats that have been secured by the KJP were previously occuppied by the BJP.
In fact, the KJP has won more number of seats than the BJP in Tumkur, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Haveri, Bidar and Gulbarga districts. In the 2007 ULB polls, the BJP had won 1,180 seats. In the current elections, the BJP has won 906 seats and the KJP has bagged 274 seats.
Former minister B Sriramulu, considered to be an ‘influential’ leader in Bellary district, quit the BJP and launched a regional party, BSR Congress. The BSR Congress has won 86 seats. If the seats won by the KJP and the BSR Congress were taken into account, the total tally of the BJP would have been 1,266 seats.From the beginning, the KJP leaders had been saying that they may not win more number of seats in the ULB polls but they would definitely upset the apple cart of the BJP in many districts.
The KJP proved its point in a number of places where they have bagged more seats than the BJP. The beneficiary has been the Congress which took advantage of the division in the traditional BJP vote bank. The BSR Congress has won 20 seats in Gadag district whereas BJP triumphed in 61 wards as against 99 seats by Congress. The KJP and BSR in a few districts widened the gap between the Congress and the BJP.