It was said that Davangere was chosen because of its leaders - Shamanur Shivashankarappa and his son who are said to be good organisers. But let alone making a mark in the State, even in Davangere the party has lost. Congress candidate S S Mallikarjun was trounced by the BJP candidate and sitting MP G M Siddeshwara.
Sonia Gandhi campaigned for the party candidates in Bidar, Mangalore and Chikodi as well. Her charisma, by and large, has not worked. Barring Bidar, her party has lost in all the constituencies where she campaigned. Dharam Singh has won from Bidar.
Janardhana Poojary and Prakash Hukkeri lost the battle in Dakshina Kannada and Chikodi, respectively.
AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi campaigned in six constituencies - Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Chikkaballapur, Bangalore South, Dharwad and Chamarajanagar, in favour of the party candidates. Of those six, the party won only three seats. Kharge won from Gulbarga. Former chief minister Veerappa Moily and MLA Dhruvanarayana won from Chikkaballapur and Chamarajanagar respectively. In the rest three, Rahul’s magic did not work. Even his hard hitting speech against the ruling BJP in Bangalore South did not work in favour of Krishna Byregowda.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani campaigned extensively in Karnataka. He addressed rallies in Belgaum, Chitradurga, Gulbarga, Bagalkot, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore South, Hassan and Dharwad. Of these constituencies, the party could not win in Gulbarga, Bangalore Rural and Hassan.
Interestingly, the BJP has won in constituencies where Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi campaigned. He campaigned in Bijapur, Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Bangalore South and Bangalore North. The party won in all these places.
