BJP suffers defeat in K’taka civic polls
12 March 2013 7:09 AM IST
The BJP suffered a major embarrassment in the local body elections in Karnataka, where the party finished a distant second to the Congress. The loss is a major worry for the ruling party as the local body elections were considered the semi finals before the assembly elections which are due in the state this year.
‘This is alarming. We will definitely introspect about it,’ said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. The BJP leader added that the party will bounce back in the coming assembly elections.
The Congress party emerged a clear winner by bagging 1,947 wards while the BJP and the JDS came second with 906 wards each. Yeddyurappa’s KJP stood third with 274 wards. The Congress won three out of seven major city corporations including Bellary, Mangalore, Davanagere and is also the single largest party in Mysore and Gulbarga. Meanwhile, ruling BJP was the single largest party in Hubli-Dharwad.
‘We are a nascent party. We set up 2000 candidates and the main purpose was to organise the party. Today, the people of Karnataka have shown BJP its proper place,’ said KJP leader Dhananjaya Kumar.
The impact of Yeddyurappa’s exit from BJP was felt by party leaders, with the seniors accepting that the former chief minister’s decision to form his own party had affected the BJP’s fortunes. They said that if Yeddyurappa had stayed with the party, the results would have been different.
With senior party leader LK Advani having categorically expressed his opposition to Yeddyurappa at the recent national conclave, the BJP will find it difficult to forge any pre or post-poll alliance with the KJP. Not having any electoral understanding with the party is likely to see a repeat of the civic polls in the assembly elections as well, as his candidates could cut into BJP votes and lead to the party’s ouster, said a party leader.
‘This is alarming. We will definitely introspect about it,’ said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. The BJP leader added that the party will bounce back in the coming assembly elections.
The Congress party emerged a clear winner by bagging 1,947 wards while the BJP and the JDS came second with 906 wards each. Yeddyurappa’s KJP stood third with 274 wards. The Congress won three out of seven major city corporations including Bellary, Mangalore, Davanagere and is also the single largest party in Mysore and Gulbarga. Meanwhile, ruling BJP was the single largest party in Hubli-Dharwad.
‘We are a nascent party. We set up 2000 candidates and the main purpose was to organise the party. Today, the people of Karnataka have shown BJP its proper place,’ said KJP leader Dhananjaya Kumar.
The impact of Yeddyurappa’s exit from BJP was felt by party leaders, with the seniors accepting that the former chief minister’s decision to form his own party had affected the BJP’s fortunes. They said that if Yeddyurappa had stayed with the party, the results would have been different.
With senior party leader LK Advani having categorically expressed his opposition to Yeddyurappa at the recent national conclave, the BJP will find it difficult to forge any pre or post-poll alliance with the KJP. Not having any electoral understanding with the party is likely to see a repeat of the civic polls in the assembly elections as well, as his candidates could cut into BJP votes and lead to the party’s ouster, said a party leader.
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