Karnataka: BJP wins 17 as Cong settles for 9

Riding on the popular wave of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the BJP won 17 seats in the State while the ruling Congress managed to retain its existing tally of nine.

The H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) won only two seats and the party’s debacle was compounded by H D Kumaraswamy’s humiliating defeat in Chikkaballapur.

The BJP retained all three seats in Bangalore, including Bangalore South where Ananth Kumar defeated Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani of the Congress, and the two coastal seats: Mangalore and Uttara Kannada. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa won with the highest victory margin of 3.63 lakh votes in the State.

Former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Udupi-Chikkamagalur candidate Shobha Karandlaje, who is a close confidante of Yeddyurappa, are said to be in the race for becoming Union ministers.

The Congress faced defeat in Bidar and Mandya. Former chief minister N Dharam Singh lost to Bhagawanth Khuba of the BJP in Bidar, while actor Ramya lost to JD(S)’ C S Puttaraju in Mandya. All three Union ministers – Mallikarjun Kharge, K H Muniyappa and Veerappa Moily – retained their seats. R V Deshpande’s son Prashanth in Uttara Kannada and S S Mallikarjun, son of Shamanoor Shivashankarappa, Davangere also lost the battle.

Though the results have come as a big disappointment for the ruling Congress in the State, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah can find solace in the fact that Karnataka has put up the best performance compared with all other States for the party. The Congress has also done well as far as vote share is concerned: The BJP secured 43 per cent, the Congress 40.8 per cent and the JD(S) 11 per cent.

Reacting to results, Siddaramaiah admitted that the Congress has faced a setback and even described the BJP’s victory as the vote for change. He, however, said the results are not the referendum on his government and that it is the collective responsibility of the State party.