Karnataka: Post loss, BJP top brass to introspect

Bengaluru: After the debacle in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls, the Bharatiya Janata Party has begun an introspection to find the reasons for losing both seats by a huge margin.

Sources close to State BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa told Deccan Chronicle that as first step towards this, the party had collected the booth-wise voting pattern in two assembly segments to understand where their strategy failed. The results have come as a shocker for Mr Yeddyurappa who had high hopes of winning  Nanjangud easily due to the popularity of its candidate,  V Srinivasaprasad. The party even felt  it had a 50:50 chance in Gundlupet since  Congress candidate Ms Geeta Mahadevprasad was heavily banking on sympathy following the sudden demise of her husband and Co-Operation Minister H.S. Mahadevprasad.

But all calculations of the party went awry as Srinivasaprasad lost to Congress candidate, Kalale Keshavamurthy by over 20,000 votes. The only solace for the BJP was a rise in voting percentage compared to the previous polls.

The sources said Mr Yeddyurappa is expected to visit Mysuru on April 17 to thank the party cadre for working hard in by elections, and also ask them to gear up for the 2018 Assembly polls.

He is likely to visit Nanjangud and Gundlupet to boost the morale of workers. Soon after the results were announced, he had a meeting with leaders like Mr R. Ashok and Mr Somanna to know the reasons for losing both the seats despite deploying workers at the grassroot level to campaign for the candidates.

Chinthan manthan: The Chinthan-manthan baitak is scheduled to take place sometime next week for a detailed discussion on the debacle in which senior state leaders will participate. Mr Yeddyurappa is likely to meet and brief BJP National President Amit Shah at the ongoing two-day national executive committee meeting being held in Odisha on why the party lost both seats.

Sources said Mr Yeddyurappa would gather  the polling details and discuss the revised strategy to be adopted to win the next assembly polls. Leaders will ponder over the voting pattern in both constituencies and find where they faltered.

The sources said after the results, Yeddyurappa went to Mr Srinivasprasad's house and extended moral support to him. For the BJP, he has been a big leader whose services will be utlilised in the coming general election. "We have learnt many lessons in the bypolls, it will not be repeated in 2018. It's only a temporary setback, the party will bounce back by bagging both seats next year,” BJP sources said.