12 ministers swept under Cong wave

Another big gun to lose was Industries Minister Murugesh R Nirani,who had spearheaded two global investors meets and who was in two minds till the last minute whether to join forces with the KJP but who eventually remained with the BJP,in Bilgi. He lost by 11,000 votes to Congresss J T Patil in the constituency,where the KJP had not fielded a candidate.

Other ministers who lost included V Somanna Vijayanagar,B N Bache Gowda Hoskote,Revunaik Belamagi Gulbarga Rural,A Narayanaswamy Anekal,Sogadu Shivanna Tumkur,S K Bellubbi Basavana Bagewadi,Kalakappa Bandi Ron,S A Ravindranatha Davangere North,S A Ramadass Krishnaraja and Anand Asnotikar Karwar.

The Congress was not without casualties. In a shock defeat,Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara,until then a CM candidate,lost in Koratagere in Tumkur district to JDS opponent P R Sudhakara Lal by more than 18,000 votes. And former civil aviation minister C M Ibrahim was pushed to third position in Bhadrawati.

Meanwhile,infrastructure-entrepreneur of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Project Ashok Kheny,the Karnataka Makkala Paksha candidate,won from Bidar South,defeating sitting JDS MLA Bandeppa Kashempur.