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Once creator, now destroyer

The man who was brought the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in a southern state had the last laugh on Wednesday, after the party he had been associated with for the last 40 years was decimated in the Karnataka assembly elections.

The man who was credited for raising the fortunes of BJP, is now being hailed as the person who brought the stock of BJP down to nowhere.

As the BJP was routed in the assembly elections, the chatter only grew louder that exit of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, from the party was one of the major reasons of why BJP faired so poorly in the elections.

‘The Yeddyurappa factor has worked against the BJP certainly and his exit from the saffron fold played a key role in BJP's debacle,’ said RSS ideologue MG Vaidya, who was also of the view that no one thought BJP would perform ‘so disgustingly’, thus clearly underlining the importance of Yeddyurappa.

Though it would be far stretched to say that Yeddyurappa was the lone factor for BJP’s demise in Karnataka, but there is no denying the fact of his influence in splitting the votes of BJP. In Shimoga district out of the seven assembly seats, the BJP had won four seats in 2008 assembly elections however, this time the party was not able to open its account, with deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa finishing third in Shimoga city constituency.

Though Yeddyurappa’s own party Karnataka Janata Party(KJP) managed to win only six seats in the 223 total assembly seats, the former chief minister has inflicted heavy damage for BJP and ensured a victory for the Congress party. Yeddyurappa ensured that his party dented the 18 percent vote  bank of the Lingayat community which had voted for the BJP, as the Lingayats shifted their loyalties across the state.

In 2008,in the Lingayat stronghold of Bombay Karnataka, out of the 50 assembly seats in the  area, the BJP won 36 seats, however, in a role reversal this time it is the Congress party which managed to win 36 seats from the same area.

Also in Hyderabad Karnatka, the BJP has been able to win mere two seats out of the total 40 seats in the area.
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