KALABURAGI: It was a day to celebrate the Congress in the Kalyana Karnataka region with the party winning 26 of the 41 constituencies. Kalyana Karnataka comprises seven districts — Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, and Vijayanagara.
The BJP, however, faced a drubbing by bagging a mere 10 seats, down from 19 in 2018. The Congress, however, increased its tally — from 18 in 2018 to 26 in the recent polls. Capturing Kalyana Karnataka was a matter of prestige for the Congress as AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge hails from Kalaburagi district.
JDS, which positioned itself as the ‘kingmaker’ till the results were announced, had to be happy with just 3 seats, down one since 2018.
Mining baron and former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, who founded the Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha after severing ties with the BJP, won from Gangavathi in the Koppal district. Lata Mallikarjun, an independent, emerged victorious in Harapanahalli of Vijayanagara district.
The BJP failed to open its account in Ballari and Yadgir districts. It won 2 seats each in both districts in 2018.
The saffron party’s strength was reduced from 5 to 2 in Kalaburagi and 3 to 1 in Koppal district. In Vijayanagara, its strength has come to 1 from 2 seats. In Raichur, it retained 2 seats. In Bidar, however, the party has bagged 4 seats, up 2 since 2018.
Political pundits opine that the region was neglected by both the Union and State governments in all aspects, including not setting up a Railway division in Kalaburagi, not sanctioning AIIMS to Raichur, not providing sufficient funds to Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board, PSI recruitment scam that broke in Kalaburagi, and the Congress’ 40% commission charges proved to be fatal for the BJP. The Congress, by making Kharge the AICC president, reaped rich benefits as the veteran leader hails from the region. As far as Bidar district is concerned, experts feel that PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Humnabad and visits by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the district helped the party.