JOIN USAt the first glance, the revelry with fizzing liquid sprayed on the winners might have seemed akin to the frolicking that happens on a motorsport podium. but a closer look revealed that the bubble was after all, the ubiquitous American cola.
Party workers anticipating victories for their godfathers and even godmothers were heard complaining about garlands being expensive and even unavailable. At most local markets and even the City Market garlands were being sold at a premium with the oversized mega garland being unavailable. Cronies and party workers vying with one another to please their leader with mega garlands were disappointed as they either proved to be exorbitant or unavailable.
Even smaller sized garlands were selling at a high premium as flower vendors interested in quadrupling their profits for the day hiked prices by more than 200 percent. Humble jasmine garlands usually priced between Rs 100 and 150 were selling at more than Rs 300.
Festive counting centres
Road blocks, bursting of fire crackers and slogan shouting reigned outside the counting centres. Party workers had gathered much early at the Freedom Park on the busy Seshadri Road, close to the Maharani’s College, a counting centre for the Shanthinagar assembly constituency.
All the winning BJP candidates here spoke of their dream to change their respective wards into a model for the City. “The biggest issue challenging our area is the issue of education. If each and every citizen in my ward is educated then the locality will transform by itself,” said Muni Raju, BJP councillor-elect from Ward 64, Kadu Malleshwara.
In Visvesvarapuram, the winning candidate S. Anil Kumar had a strong candidate in former mayor PR Ramesh. The BJP candidates supporters began celebrations right from the second round, outside the counting centre. Ramesh accepted defeat and left the counting centre immediately after the third round counting results were announced.
Mood in new areas
In the newly added BBMP areas, there was a distinct rural flavour with traditional celebrations and some primitive policing by the cops. A potent combination of drums, fire crackers, exaggerated hero worship and sloganeering resounded across wards in K R Puram, Bommananhalli, Yelahanka and Mahadevpura constituencies.
While BJP swept K R Puram and Bommanahalli constituencies by winning 17 out of the 18 wards, Congress performed strongly in Mahadevpura constituency, winning seven out of eight wards.