Lotus feeder

Soon after the lotus bloomed for the first time in South India and he became the Chief Minister of Karnataka...

Soon after the lotus bloomed for the first time in South India and he became the Chief Minister of Karnataka,BJPs B S Yeddyurappa was asked about his next political dream. To make L K Advani the Prime Minister of India,was his quick reply. Over the last year,Yeddyurappa has been focused on achieving that aim formulating populist schemes,tirelessly visiting districts,and personally identifying Lok Sabha candidates often at the cost of day-to-day administration.

On Saturday when the dust settled on the parliamentary election and the BJP fared phenomenally well in Karnataka,Yeddyurappas dream of making Advani PM remained unfulfilled. The CM was confronted with the question as to whether he had been given a rose without scent. With his years of experience in politics,Yeddyurappa sidestepped the question and turned focus on the Karnataka mandate.

If there is anyone who has come out of the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka with renewed power and strength on the back of the BJPs 19 seats,it is Yeddyurappa. Having helped the party improve its tally of 18 seats from 2004,Yeddyurappa managed to slip into a higher league in the BJP.

The biggest victory for Yeddyurappa is in his home district of Shimoga where his son B Y Raghavendra ousted party-hopping veteran and former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa from the Congress by 51,118 votes in one of the most closely watched election battles in the state. The CM had focused much of his energies in the constituency,spending nearly a fortnight in the district ahead of the polls to garner support for his son.

Yeddyurappa also patted himself on the back for his projections of 20 seats for the polls,while a majority of people had predicted that an erosion in the BJPs hold in the state,with a two- to three-seat dip in the number of seats over 2004.

I have been saying we will win 20. We won 19. We could have won four more with a little more effort since the results show that at least four seats were won only narrowly by others, Yeddyurappa said after he made a victory appearance before the media on Saturday.

The results have given me a lot of satisfaction. The Congress fielded many prominent leaders,many former chief ministers. There was also a tacit understanding between the Congress and the JDS,making this election a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress. The voters have chosen us, Yeddyurappa said. I feel people are satisfied with our work. This is a pro-development verdict, he said.

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In an attempt to guarantee a BJP victory,Yeddyurappa travelled to all 28 districts in the state,often heli-hopping back to Shimoga at the end of the day to check on how his sons campaign was going.

Also clicking in these elections was a strategy,Operation Lotus,helmed by Yeddyurappa to draw significant leaders from other parties in regions where the BJP is considered weak. The results on Saturday threw up three winners D B Chandregowda,Ramesh Katti,G S Basavaraju who were until recently in the Congress or the JDS. It is a great achievement when a leader can achieve victory within a few days of joining the party, Yeddyurappa said.

Giving additional reason for Yeddyurappa to cheer is the apparent erosion in the strengths of the Reddy brothers,mining barons from Bellary,and the narrowest victory ever achieved by his archrival H N Ananth Kumar in the Bangalore South constituency. The Reddy brothers candidate J Shantha,sister of Health Minister B Sreeramulu,won by barely 2,243 votes.

With the election in the bag for the BJP,Yeddyurappa is now finally promising to pay better attention to the development of the state.