Cong stronghold in BJP’s kitty

KR Puram has slipped away from the Congress hands, as Byrathi Basavaraju, who contested on a BJP ticket after defecting, piled on the humiliation for the Grand Old Party by comfortably winning the bypoll.

With the victory, Byrathi Basavaraju not only improved his tally in the by-poll, but also demonstrated his hold on the constituency dominated by Vokkaliga and OBC voters.

Struggling to find a suitable candidate, the Congress had fielded its MLC M Narayanaswamy at the last moment and campaigned on the narrative of ‘back-stabbing’ by Basavaraju.

However, that didn’t cut much ice with the voters. Basavaraju’s efforts in getting enough projects for the constituency and being accessible to people helped him sail through for a third consecutive time.

Timely defection of four Congress corporators in KR Puram also helped the BJP improve on its previous performance. The JD-S, which had contested only for namesake, was humiliated as its candidate C Krishnamurthy lost the deposit.