As Rahul magic fails in Karnataka, Cong says wasn’t one-man show

Out of 36 SC seats in Karnataka, the Congress could win only 10 as against 22 by the BJP, 3 by Independents and 1 by JD(S). Out of 15 ST seats, the Congress and the BJP shared seven each while the JD(S) won 1. Overall, out of 54 Assembly seats where Rahul had campaigned in the run-up to the election this month, the Congress won 22 only.

AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari asserted that the AICC general secretary’s campaign had given a big boost to the party in terms of its impact on results. He reminded that SCs and STs were present all across the state and not merely on reserved seats.

“The Congress fights every election collectively. We win some, lose some. To try to single out and put the responsibility on a particular person is an erroneous way of looking at it,” said the AICC spokesperson. Rahul’s performance in Karnataka polls came under scrutiny after his not-so-impressive roadshows in terms of results in the last Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Responding to a query whether the party thought in hindsight that it should have projected a chief ministerial candidate, Tewari said in the last Assembly election in Himachal Pradesh, everybody knew the election was being held under Virbhadra Singh’s leadership, yet the party lost. However, the party had not projected anyone in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections and still it won there last time. There were 21 seats in Karnataka Assembly election where the party lost by less than 3,000 votes. There were two seats where the party lost by less than 100 votes.

“There is no single reason for victory or defeat; there are many reasons. Assembly elections are contested on local issues,” said Tewari replying to a query about inflation and terrorist attacks playing a role in election results.

Meanwhile, the Congress continued to deliberate on mistakes made during ticket distribution. For instance, the Congress gave tickets to Balijja community leaders on four out of 28 seats in Bangalore urban and rural areas, even though the community constituted merely 0.5 per cent of the population in the state. Unlike in the past where at least two-three tickets were given to Tamils in Bangalore, the Congress gave them none this time.

Even after the Central Election Committee of the AICC had finalised the list, as many as 21 candidates were changed causing rebellion in the party.