Tumakuru: Causing his party and family much heartburn, Janata Da(S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda was defeated by former Member of Parliament , G.S. Basavaraju of the BJP, in Tumakuru on Thursday, albeit by a narrow margin of 12, 387 votes.
While Mr Basavaraju polled 5,94, 011 votes, Mr Deve Gowda won 5, 81, 624. This is Mr Deve Gowda' s third defeat in a parliamentary election. He had lost to Mr G. Puttaswamy Gowda of the Congress in 1999 and to Ms Tejaswini of the Congress in 2004 inKanakapura. But he did make it to the Lok Sabha that year as he had contested from Hassan too and won from the constituency.
For Mr Basavaraju, his win marks a comeback in Tumakuru, which he had represented for four terms as a Congress leader before joining the BJP and losing from the constituency to Mr Muddahanume Gowda of the Congress in 2014 . The Congress MP gave up a shot at another term to make way for Mr Deve Gowda , who was fielded from Tumakuru by the JD(S), Congress alliance in the state.
The JD(S) did do well in pockets of the constituency with Mr. Deve Gowda polling more than the saffron party in Chikkanayankanhalli , winning 82, 174 votes as against the BJP's 75, 186. In Turuvekere too he won 75, 918 votes as against the BJP's 56, 944 and Koratagere also voted for the JD(S) with the party gaining 74, 861 votes as against the BJP's 72, 857.
On Mr Deve Gowda's defeat, Tumakuru Congress president, Ramakrishna said he was looking into where things went wrong despite the JD(S) and Congress workers jointly campaigning for Mr Deve Gowda's success.
BJP MLA, Jyoithiganesh, meanwhile, attributed his party's success to the voters "strong dislike" for the candidature of Mr Deve Gowda , the Modi wave and Mr Basavaraju's “clean image.”
