BENGALURU: In a historic win, BJP-JDS alliance candidate Dr CN Manjunath wresting Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency from DK Suresh of the Congress. The BJP was successful in making inroads into the rural pockets of Bengaluru, delivering a major setback for KPCC president and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar.
The margin of victory only added salt to the wound: Dr Manjunath won by 2.69 lakh votes, one of the biggest victory margins in Karnataka. The strategy of fielding the son-in-law of former prime minister and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda paid off for the BJP. Interestingly, though Manjunath was part of a political family, he never took part in active politics.
Traditional JDS votes and BJP votes turned the tide in favour of Manjunath, who brought along his own charisma and success story as a cardiologist and high-profile director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research. Suresh, who was the MP since 2013, was also facing anti-incumbency in this party bastion.
Bangalore Rural constituency is a mix of urban and rural voters numbering 27.53 lakh, the second highest in the state after Bangalore North. In 2009, in the first election after Bengaluru Rural constituency was formed in 200the previous year, former CM HD Kumaraswamy had won by 1.3 lakh votes.
In the 2013 bypolls, Suresh had won by 1.37 lakh votes; in 2014, he won by 2.31 lakh votes and in 2019, by 2.06 lakh votes. Breaking all these records, Manjunath won by 2.69 lakh votes, and garnered close to 11 lakh votes.
BJP leaders from Delhi had been focusing on this seat. In fact, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had kickstarted his campaign in Karnataka from Channapattana, with a roadshow for Manjunath. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also keen on getting this seat into the BJP kitty.
Since its formation, BJP had never won this seat. In fact, a big swathe of Karnataka that includes Ramanagara, Kanakapura, Magadi, Channapattana and some parts of Bengaluru Urban, which were part of Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency since 1952, had never voted BJP except in 1998 where M Srinivas won and was MP for just one year.
Manjunath has called it the “people’s victory”. “When we were campaigning in the eight assembly segments, the support and encouragement I got gave me two insights. I had assessed that I would win by 50,000 votes to around 2 lakh votes. When we interacted with people, many expressed their desire to elect me, and this has come true. We want to develop health, education, basic amenities and the farming sector in this constituency,” he said.
