Embarrassed party blames it on secret Congress-BJP pact.
The BJP's Pradeep Shettar being carried by supporters after his win in the Hubballi-Dharwad Council seat on Wednesday.
Hassan: Patel Shivaram, the personal choice of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda for the Hassan Council seat, was drubbed by political novice and Congress candidate, Gopalaswamy on Wednesday.
To take on the mighty JD(S) in Hassan, it is said that the Congress and BJP entered into a tactical understanding to defeat the common enemy. Mr Gopalaswamy defeated Patel Shivaram, a sitting MLC, by a margin of 214 votes. Gopalaswamy polled 2,037 votes while Patel Shivaram secured 1,823 votes. The BJP’s Renukumar got only 114 votes out of the total valid votes of 3981 indicating that the saffron party’s votes had gone elsewhere.
Hassan, a stronghold of JD(S), has Mr Deve Gowda, the sitting MP, besides five party legislators and a significant number of members in local bodies in the district. The Congress has two legislators-Rudresh Gowda and A Manju, minister for Animal Husbandry, who is also district in-charge. Though the BJP has no MLAs, it has a presence in local bodies.
Though there was no alliance between BJP and Congress in the poll for Hassan, defeated JD(S) nominee Patel Shivaram attributed the loss to the BJP supporting the Congress nominee. A visibly upset Mr Shivaram alleged that money power has played a crucial role in the outcome.
The BJP’s Hassan district president Navile Annappa observed that JD(S) is a common enemy for both Congress and BJP and BJP voters might have cast their second preferential votes for the Congress nominee. He clarified that BJP had not instructed any of its voters to support Congress in the poll.
Attributing the party’s success to a show of unity by leaders, Congress district president B. Shivaram said, “We have given a result which was not expected by our state leaders.”
JD(S) wins two in mandya and Mysuru
In the elections to the Council from Mandya constituency, JD(S) retained its seat with N. Appaji Gowda making it to the Upper House securing first preferential votes. He secured 2302 votes, while Congress candidate Shivaramegowda secured 1660 votes and BJP candidate Kadenahally Naganna Gowda 139 votes. In Mysuru, R. Dharmasena, the only candidate fielded by the Congress party retained his seat with first preferential votes. The JD(S) candidate Sandesh Nagaraj too retained his seat in the Upper house. While Dharmasena secured 3037 first preferential votes, Sandesh Nagaraj secured 2257 second preferential vote. The BJP candidate R Raghu could secure only 1,828 first preferential votes.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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