The Hindu : Karnataka News : Bidar bypoll: Poojary's efforts pay for Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 18, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Bidar bypoll: Poojary's efforts pay for Congress

By A. Jayaram

BANGALORE, OCT. 17. The wresting of the Bidar Lok Sabha seat after a gap of 13 years from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is being hailed as proof of the organisational strength of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

Within eight months after suffering defeats in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the Congress has been able to win the Lok Sabha byelection. The success of the Congress candidate, Narsingrao Suryavamshi, should also give the quietus to efforts by some leaders to replace the KPCC President, B. Janardhana Poojary.

Mr. Poojary took the challenge of the Bidar byelection from day one and camped in the constituency from the end of September. It was he who unilaterally announced the candidature of Mr. Suryavamshi even when talks with the Janata Dal (Secular) over fielding a common candidate were proceeding. It is another thing that his action forced the Janata Dal (S) to enter the contest.

Professionalism

Mr. Poojary went about the job of campaigning with professionalism, according to party leaders. He was able to mobilise the Congress workers in the constituency and enthuse them to campaign. The Congress leaders worked as a team under Mr. Poojary's direction, burying their differences. That a few local leaders such as Bheemanna Khandre, former Minister and president of the All-India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, remained neutral did not influence the electoral verdict.

Mr. Poojary was also able to enlist several party leaders for the campaign. Besides the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, the Major Irrigation Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, and others such as C.K. Jaffer Sharief, H.K. Patil, B.K. Chandrashekar, D.K. Shivakumar, R.V. Deshpande and H. Vishwanath campaigned for Mr. Suryavamshi.

It was a delicate job for the Congress as it was fighting its own coalition partner, the Janata Dal (S), besides the BJP. It could not attack the Janata Dal (S) at the public meetings. It is said that the party did not rely much on Janata Dal (S) baiters in the party such as Mr. Shivakumar. However, he did campaign for a day. Mr. Shivakumar is a bitter political foe of the Janata Dal (S) President, H.D. Deve Gowda, and his politician sons — the Public Works Minister, H.D. Revanna and H.D. Kumaraswamy, MLA.

The Congress also utilised the services of the party MP from Kanakapura, Tejaswini Sriramesh, who defeated Mr. Deve Gowda in the Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency.

The Bidar victory should silence critics within the Congress who wanted to see Mr. Poojary out of the Congress Bhavan. They had blamed him for the party's defeat in the general elections. Some of the leaders had lobbied for the KPCC President's post with the AICC leaders.

A variety of factors helped the Congress to regain the seat. Mr. Suryavamshi was the best known among the candidates as he was a former MP. His popularity in the constituency was perhaps next only to that of the former BJP MP, Ramachandra Veerappa, whose death caused the byelection. He was also better educated among the candidates.

Another factor in his favour was that he belongs to the left hand sect of the Scheduled Castes while the BJP candidate, Basavaraj Arya, and the BSP nominee, Chandrakanth Geddage, belong to the right hand sect. The Janata Dal (S) candidate, Lambani Babu Honna Naik, made inroads into the BJP's share of votes as the Scheduled Tribes are considered traditional BJP supporters. The campaigning by the Industries Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia, who is a Maratha, for the Janata Dal (S) nominee cost the BJP dearly in terms of votes.

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