BENGALURU: The BJP’s big loss in Maski -- where a Congress candidate who jumped to the BJP lost in spite of the advantage the ruling party enjoys in bypolls -- was due to a very perceptible anti-incumbency factor working against it. For the party that won 25+1 of 28 parliamentary polls in 2019, this is the second time the anti-incumbency vote is so widely on display.
One political expert said that failure to handle the Covid pandemic, soaring fuel costs, economic challenges, incomplete flood relief and other issues barrelled into an anti-incumbency wave here. Anti-incumbency is such a big factor, that if bypolls to Belagavi, Maski and Basavakalyan were held along with elections to the ten civic bodies, BJP would have done even more badly, said another analyst. The ruling party won just one civic body -- Madikeri -- in the elections held on April 27. The Congress won seven and JDS bagged two civic bodies.
After the shock defeat of Prathapgouda Patil in Maski, one big question raised within the BJP was whether the party chose the wrong candidate. Not really, say experts, pinning the loss on anti-incumbency. This is also borne out in Belagavi, where former Union Minister Suresh Angadi passed away, and there was a clear sympathy wave in favour of the BJP. Yet, the party won with just around 5,240 votes. Why was the victory so sliver-thin? Did the party pick the wrong candidate?
In the 2019 election, BJP won with a 3.9 lakh-plus margin, raising expectations that the advantage lies with the ruling party, and it would win hands down again. While there was a lot of pressure within the BJP that “family politics” should not be encouraged -- especially after it set the standard with Tejaswini Ananth Kumar -- yet the party chose Mangala, hoping to cash in on sympathy, after the Congress announced Satish Jarkiholi as its candidate. BJP insiders said if they had not fielded Mangala Angadi, they would have done even worse, which is a measure of anti-incumbency.
In Basavakalyan, where BJP candidate Sharanu Salgar won, many blamed the JDS for indirectly supporting the ruling party. The party, which did not field a candidate in Maski and Belagavi, fielded a minority candidate in Basavakalyan, impacting the Congress. In the 2017 bypolls to Gundlupet and Nanjangud, the JDS did not field candidates, which helped the then ruling party win both seats.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, party president Nalin Kumar Kateel and other senior leaders are expected to have a baithak, to find out the reason for the party’s bad performance. If it is poor choice of candidates, experts are suggesting that they need to address the anti-incumbency wave threatening them, with over two years still left of their tenure.
Congress presence on the wane, says KSE
Shivamogga: The Congress party is losing its presence by the day, while the BJP is attaining victory in most of the states. People have to search for states being ruled by Congress, such is the party's condition, RDPR and District Minister K S Eshwarappa said. He told reporters on Sunday that the Congress tried to twist former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi's CD scandal to its advantage during the Maski, Belagavi and Basavalalyan assembly elections, but it turned out to be a failed effort. It should get satisfied with only one assembly seat out of three, he said, adding that Congress leaders in the State are in a confused state