Karnataka - Bellary   

Congress suffers major setback in Bellary

By Our Staff Correspondent

The senior Janata Dal (S) leader, M.P. Prakash, along with Suryanarayan Reddy, who won the Kurgodu seat, and other party workers celebrating the victory of the party in Bellary district.

BELLARY, MAY 13. The Congress has suffered a major setback in the Assembly elections in Bellary district as it lost all the eight Assembly seats coming under the Bellary Lok Sabha Constituency and Hospet, which is part of Bellary district but included in the Koppal Lok Sabha Constituency, held by it in the 1999 elections.

Allum Veerbhadrappa, Minister for Water Resources (Krishna Basin) (Kurgodu); M. Diwakar Babu, Minister of State for Cooperation (Bellary city); Shiraj Sheikh, District Congress Committee President (Kudligi); and M. Shankar Reddy, Chairman of the Karnataka State Small Industries Investment Corporation (Sirguppa), were among the prominent losers.

The Janata Dal (S) and the BJP wrested three seats each from the Congress.

Bhagirathi Marulasiddanagouda (Kottur) and Parmeshwar Nayak (Harpanahalli) were the only Congress candidates to retain their seats. The Hospet Assembly seat was bagged by the Congress rebel, H.R. Gaviyappa. N. Suryanarayan Reddy (Janata Dal-S) and B. Sriramulu (BJP) avenged their defeat at the hands of Mr. Allum Veerbhadrappa and Mr. Diwakar Babu in the previous elections. The former won by a margin of 9,271, while the latter by 6,711 votes. M.P. Prakash, Janata Dal (S) leader, staged a comeback by wresting the Hadagali seat from the Congress candidate, Nandihalli Halappa, by a margin of 33,786 votes. In Sandur, Santosh Lad, also of the Janata Dal (S), defeated the Congress candidate, Venkatarao Ghorpade, former President of the zilla panchayat and brother of senior Congress leader, M.Y. Ghorpade, by a margin of 35,544 votes, which is the highest in the district. Anil Lad of the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested the Kudligi seat from Shiraj Sheikh, District Congress Committee President, by a margin of 17,181 votes. Mr. Sheikh won by a margin of 18,000 votes in the previous elections. M.S. Somalingappa (BJP) emerged as the "dark horse" in the Siruguppa Assembly Constituency.

As per expectations, the earlier half of the counting saw shifting leads between the Janata Dal (S) and the Congress. Mr. Somalingappa was no where in the race even after 50 per cent of the counting was over.

It was only when the counting was nearing the end, Mr. Somalingappa began gaining lead and ultimately won the seat by defeating his nearest Janata Dal (S) candidate, T.M. Chandrashekariah, by a margin of 6,316 votes.

In Kottur, Bhagirathi Marulasiddanagouda achieved a hat-trick by retaining the seat.

The Janata Dal (S) rebel candidate, J. Harshavardhan, polled 13,901 votes and blocked the victory chances of the official candidate, N.T. Bommanna. Ms. Marulasiddanagouda won by 2,812 votes. Parmeshwar Nayak retained his seat in Harpanahalli by defeating D. Narayan Das (independent) by a margin of 7,994 votes.

In Hospet, the Congress rebel, H.R. Gaviyappa, won by defeating his nearest rival G. Shankargouda of the Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 7,725 votes.

The official Congress candidate, G.K. Hanumanthappa, secured 21,058 votes.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Congress suffers major setback in Bellary
• `Results point to wrong policies of Congress Govt.'

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu