Karnataka Bypolls: BJP wins two out of three, but gets spooked by Congress

The BJP won two out of three bypolls in Karnataka, results of which were announced on Sunday, with the victories expected to help Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa consolidate his position and fend off attempts to replace him.

In the Belgaum Lok Sabha bypoll, the saffron party managed to evade a major embarrassment by winning the cliffhanger contest against the Congress, where the victory margin was just 5,240 votes.

Another consolation for the BJP was its victory in the Basavakalyan Assembly bypoll, though the party lost the Maski seat to the Congress, which won comfortably.

BJP’s Belgaum candidate Mangala Angadi, late Union minister Suresh Angadi’s wife, broke into tears when her win against Congress’ working president Satish Jarkiholi was finally confirmed after several rounds of counting, in a contest that went down to the wire.

Compared with Suresh’s 2019 victory that had a margin of 3.91 lakh votes, the narrow bypoll win is humbling for the BJP. “But a win is a win, be it by 30 votes or 10,000,” Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, who helmed the BJP’s poll campaign in Belgaum, said.

Apparently, there was a split in the BJP’s share of votes that resulted in the close fight.

Satish, who put up a tough fight, is known to be loyal to Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, whose position is now expected to be bolstered.

In Basavakalyan, BJP’s Sharanu Salagar won by 20,000 votes. Here, the BJP managed to keep its votes from splitting even as one of its own leaders rebelled and contested as an independent.

The win is a boost for the BJP as the seat was held by the Congress. The sympathy wave for Congress’ Mala, wife of late MLA B Narayan Rao, did not work.

But the loss in Maski is a setback to Yediyurappa. BJP’s Pratapgouda Patil, a disqualified MLA, lost against Congress’ Basanagouda Turvihal by 30,000 votes, with anti-incumbency being cited as the reason for the former's defeat.

Patil, earlier with the Congress, was one of the 17 MLAs who defected and helped the BJP come to power. Yediyurappa will now have to look for other ways to placate Patil, who hoped to become a minister.

Also, BJP vice-president and Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra was in charge of the party’s campaign in Maski, and the loss will give ammunition to his haters within the party.

Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar hailed the results. “People's confidence in the Congress party is increasing everyday and anti-incumbency against this non-performing BJP government is rising,” he said.