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Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Karnataka
By S. Rajendran
BANGALORE, OCT. 16. The victory of the Congress candidate, Narasingrao Suryavanshi, in the byelection to the Bidar Lok Sabha seat is a feather in the cap for the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, who led a spirited Congress campaign team. The Congress has wrested the seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party after five general elections (1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004), and it is the Chief Minister who obviously has to get the credit. Apparently, the people of Bidar have blessed his party since he hails from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Mr. Dharam Singh is the second Chief Minister from the region after late Veerendra Patil, who was elected from Chincholi in Gulbarga district and had two tenures as Chief Minister. The results have indicated that the Congress has bounced back after the poor performance in the last elections when the BJP took away a big chunk of Lok Sabha seats and the Janata Dal (Secular) fared well in the Assembly election.
No impact on Government
As was made out by both the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) during the run-up to the byelection, the result will have no direct bearing on the future of the coalition government in the State, although it is obvious that the Chief Minister will enjoy a better bargaining power and will carry more weight in his discussions with the Congress High Command and former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, who heads the Janata Dal (S). Sources in the Chief Minister's Secretariat told The Hindu that the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, called up Mr. Dharam Singh and congratulated him on the party's success. It would have been another matter had the Janata Dal (S) won. The party, which already enjoys considerable clout in the coalition government and has been successful in obtaining a large share of the weighty portfolios, would have started calling the shots much to the chagrin of the Chief Minister and the other senior State Congress leaders.
Cabinet expansion
The much-delayed expansion of the ministry will now be taken up with ease. The Chief Minister, who described the victory as "historic," both to the party and himself, is expected to push through with the exercise in about a week, though the number of legislators from both the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) to be accommodated in the Ministry will remain unaltered and will be as per the understanding between the two parties. Wresting the seat from the BJP was no mean achievement for the Congress, more so since the Janata Dal (S) had fielded a strong candidate, Babu Honna Nayak. Mr. Nayak had contested the Legislative Assembly election as a party rebel and lost by a margin of only 1,300 votes. Added to this, the Bahujan Samaj Party had also fielded a candidate, Chandrakant Gaddage, and the BSP leader, Mayawati, had addressed several election meetings.
BJP's loss
The BJP has received a drubbing. It is apparent that it was the popularity of late Ramachandra Veerappa Arya that worked for the BJP in the last five elections. The vote share of the party has dropped considerably since the last general election. The Janata Dal (S), which has been relegated to the third position, has fared much better. In the last election, when the percentage of voting was about 70, the victorious BJP candidate polled nearly 3.14 lakh votes, the Congress candidate nearly 2.9 lakh votes and the Janata Dal (S) candidate, who was a novice, 1.73 lakh votes. In the byelection, the voting percentage dropped to 44, and the Congress candidate polled 1.96 lakh votes, the BJP candidate 1.83 lakh votes, and the Janata Dal (S) 1.62 lakh votes. Mr. Suryavanshi's margin of victory over the BJP could be considered significant since it was a close fight among the three major parties.
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