Even rallies by bigwigs didn’t help BJP increase tally in Mysuru region

MYSURU: BJP which was pinning hopes to increase its tally in the assembly has been decimated in the Mysuru region of five districts. It was able to retain only one seat in Mysuru city but lost seven other constituencies.
Their primary goal was to make inroads into Congress and JD(S) bastions in the southern districts. The party’s national leadership had upped the ante with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah focusing on Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Hassan districts, by holding roadshows and public meetings.
Shah had sounded the poll bugle from Mandya four months ahead of the elections by holding a public meeting and also held a similar meeting in Varuna assembly in Mysuru. In Hassan’s Alur taluk, which was part of Sakleshpur constituency, he held roadshows and another at Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar. Modi’s four-km long roadshow in Mysuru city and a public meeting in Hassan’s Belur and Nanjangud in Mysuru has failed to impress voters.
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah ridiculed the BJP leadership saying people of Karnataka won’t give votes by only seeing the faces of their national leaders.
BJP suffered heavy blow by losing both Kodagu seats – Madikeri and Virajpet, which was their stranglehold, in the last two decades. BJP had won both seats in the previous four elections since 2004 and this time both the seats were secured by Congress. Four-time legislator KG Bopaiah and three-time MLA Appachu Ranjan lost by a thin margin of 4,291 and 4,402 votes respectively.
BJP had failed to retain five other seats – Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district, Chamaraja and Nanjangud (SC-reserve) in Mysuru, KR Pet in Mandya and Hassan segment in Hassan district. In Chamaraja and Hassan segments, BJP suffered loss by a margin of 4,094 and 7,854 votes respectively. In Gundlupet and Nanjangud, the margin of loss was 36,675 votes and 47,607 votes whereas in KR Pet, which BJP had won in 2019 by-election, the party slipped to third place with 38,151 votes.
Krishnaraja win brings solace for BJP
The victory in Krishnaraja has given some relief to the party. BJP had replaced four-time MLA SA Ramadas and fielded one of its grassroots-level party workers TS Srivathsa, which helped it to beat the anti-incumbency and retained the seat. Srivathsa told TOI, “Victory in Krishnaraja has proved that the party can ensure success even to the grassroots worker like me in the assembly election.” He attributed his success to workers. He won against Congress MK Somashekar, a former MLA, by a margin of 7,213 votes.