Blow to Opposition as Congress wins all three seats in Karnataka bypolls

In Channapatna, the BJP turncoat C P Yogeshwar delivered a significant win for the Congress over NDA union minister and former CM H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

The victory of Yogeshwar the former BJP MLA from the seat is seen as a symbolic win for Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar’s who backed the candidature of Yogeshwar in what was seen as a personal battle with the JDS leader Kumaraswamy for the crown of the leadership of the dominant Vokkaliga community in south Karnataka.

The union minister for heavy industries Kumaraswamy suffered a setback on account of the third successive loss for his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy – who earlier lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the region in the Mandya seat and the 2023 state polls from Ramanagara.

“People have voted in my favor despite the former PM H D Deve Gowda who is considered the foremost leader in this region campaigning for his grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy. This is an indicator that people are opposed to vesting power in a single family,” the Congress winner in the Channapatna seat C P Yogeshwar said.

“This is my third electoral defeat, and I humbly accept it. I will remain in this constituency and serve the people. The outcome in Channapatna is indeed disheartening. However, receiving 87,031 votes as a young leader in such a short period is no small feat,” Nikhil Kumaraswamy said after his defeat. He migrated to Channapatna only days before the polls while Yogeshwara is a three former MLA from the constituency on both Congress and BJP tickets.

While the Channapatna win for the Congress was not entirely a surprise on account of Yogeshwar joining forces with D K Shivakumar, the party’s win in Shiggaon which has elected the BJP’s former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai four times consecutively was a surprise.

The former BJP CM Basavaraj Bommai’s son, Bharat Bommai, lost to Yasir Pathan, the Muslim candidate fielded by the Congress amid infighting for the poll ticket. The seat was traditionally won by Bommai by forging an alliance between Muslims and Lingayats.

Bommai claimed that the Congress had achieved its victory “by unleashing a massive flood of money” and on account of being in power in the state. “People have elected the ruling party’s candidate,” he said.

In the Sandur seat where the Congress was expected to win the party was given a tough fight by the BJP with Annapurna Tukaram, the wife of the Bellary Congress MP E Tukaram winning by a narrow margin over the BJP candidate Banguru Hanumanthu.

The three bypolls in Karnataka were necessitated on account of the sitting MLAs H D Kumaraswamy of the JDS, Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP and E Tukaram of the Congress party being elected to parliament in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress sweep is seen as a boost for CM Siddaramaiah and DCM D K Shivakumar and the populist policies of the Congress government like the five guarantees. It is likely to ease pressure on Siddaramaiah who has been under fire following allegations of corruption on multiple fronts. It is also expected to boost the prospect of Shivakumar becoming the CM by the middle of the term of the Congress in 2025.

The Congress which now has 138 seats in the 224 member state legislative assembly is expected to use the bypoll win to blunt opposition attacks on multiple fronts in the winter session of the legislature next month.

“It was an election between the truth of the Congress party and the lies of the BJP-JDS parties. Truth has won. This victory, which we have achieved despite the constant slander and false accusations of the opposition parties is a wonderful victory,” Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said in a press conference after the poll results were declared.

“I am not sitting in an ivory tower, I am constantly interacting with people, the beneficiaries of all our guarantee schemes are happy. BJP and JDS leaders were spreading slander about the guarantee schemes. In fact the PM  lied about our guarantee schemes. He gave false advertisements in Maharashtra. People have answered all this,” Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah said that the Congress win – especially in Shiggaon – despite criticism over the choice of a Muslim candidate – was fitting reply to the BJP’s communal brand of politics.

The “BJP and JDS have created religious hysteria through propaganda and created division between castes and religions and tried to subdue the Congress party. A secular and pacifist Karnataka helped us win the polls,” he said.

The Karnataka deputy CM and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar said the polls were an indicator of what lies ahead in the 2028 state polls. “It is time the Opposition stops its false propaganda. Politics of emotions doesn’t work and the people have given the verdict that they want politics of livelihood,” Shivakumar said.

“The Opposition leaders claimed that guarantee schemes have siphoned off funds meant for development work. The Rs 56,000 crore we are spending on guarantees works out to about Rs 250 crore per assembly constituency. Isn’t that economically empowering the poor and the middle class? The people have given a befitting verdict,” he said.

The knives were out in the BJP in Karnataka meanwhile with the rebel leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal questioning the leadership of state BJP president B Y Vijayendra and his father the former BJP CM B S Yediyurappa following the bypoll losses in the state.

“The BJP has suffered losses in Karnataka in the assembly and Lok Sabha. I would like the party high command to now at least pay attention to the state. The high command needs to be informed of the reality in the state. The feedback at present is that Yediyurappa and Vijayendra are the major leaders. The people have rejected them in the polls,” Yatnal said.