Karnataka Legislative Council polls: Siddaramaiah’s 13 is unlucky number for BJP, JD(S)
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah proved that he is still the best matchwinner the Congress has in Karnataka with the ruling party winning 13 of the 25 Legislative Council seats from local body constituencies after counting on Wednesday. This has given the CM a much needed boost to get things done his way before the taluk and zilla panchayat polls due in February.
With this win, the Congress and BJP are on an equal footing in the 75-member Council with 29 seats each while JD(S) has 11 seats and Independents, five. The Congress, however, does not have enough seats to unseat current Council chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy and would need the backing of the JD(S) to do this.
The BJP, which was hoping to deal a body blow to the ruling party, suffered huge reverses and was reduced to a pitiable 6 seats losing a bastion like Shivamogga. Sources said the party could have done better if Lingayat strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa had been made part of the candidate selection process which was not the case. In fact, Mr Yeddyurappa had suggested suitable candidates based on the caste equation in a few constituencies but he was ignored.
Two political families are celebrating - the Dharam Singh family in Bidar and the Shettars in Hubballi-Dharwad - with Vijay Singh, son of former CM Dharam Singh, and Pradeep Shettar, brother of Jagadish Shettar, sailing through. Energy minister D.K. Shivakumar ensured the victory of his brother-in-law S. Ravi, in Bengaluru Rural proving he was unassailable in the area.
The shock defeat of the day was in Hassan, the bastion of former PM Deve Gowda, where JD(S) nominee, Patel Shivaram lost to Congress candidate Gopalaswamy. The JD(S) cried foul saying sworn enemies, the Congress and BJP had ganged up to defeat Shivaram.
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