The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : JD(U) got it wrong

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

JD(U) got it wrong

K.N. Venkatasubba Rao

The party wanted the BJP to give it 25 seats

The argument that a tie-up would help BJP proved wrong
JD(U) fared poorly in many of its own strong pockets

BANGALORE: A sample performance of the Janata Dal (United) in five of the 73 constituencies it contested has disproved its line of thinking that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have been saved from the “risk” of seeking independents’ support in forming the Government had it entered into an electoral alliance with the JD(U) in the State.

The party was confident of winning a good number of seats with an electoral understanding with the BJP to consolidate non-Congress votes and fortify its position in the State.

Such an alliance paid off in the 2004 Assembly elections in which the party had contested in 25 constituencies and won five such as Chikkanayakanahalli, Kundagol. Raibagh, Bharamsagar and Kirugavalu.

Based on its performance, the party was hopeful of striking electoral alliance again with the BJP.

Although it bargained for 25 seats, it had only 12 constituencies in mind, according to a Delhi-based office-bearer of the party. The constituencies it had in its mind included Chikkanayakanahalli, Chitradurga, Challakere, Raibagh and Kalaghatgi. The party’s hopes were dashed when many senior BJP leaders did not want to concede 25 seats to the JD(U). In the light of its reported experience in Bihar, the BJP did not want to enter into the alliance blindly as there were chances of Karnataka Pradesh JD(U) replicating what happened in Bihar.

However, the BJP relented to offer eight seats, including Kanakapura, Indi, Holenarasipur and Haliyal, where neither of the two parties had any strong presence. But even as the alliance talks were on, the BJP announced its list for the first phase of the elections.

As the talks “failed,” the JD(U) decided to contest on its own. Relying heavily on the “value-based” politics theory and over estimating its self-esteem despite inadequate infrastructure, the party fielded 73 candidates expecting that it would win eight seats, including Malavalli (Scheduled Caste) from where the party’s State unit president B. Somashekhar contested.

Contrary to its expectations in its own choice of constituencies such as Chikkanayakanahalli, it polled 24,308 votes against the BJP’s 38,002 and the Janata Dal (Secular) emerged victorious with 67,046 votes. In Chitradurga, it could garner only 373 votes while the BJP secured 37,571 votes and the winner JD(S) got 55,906 votes. In Challakere, it got 1,804 votes against 42,591 votes polled by the BJP which won the seat.

The party’s confidence was proved misplaced in Raibagh and Kalghatgi as it polled 604 and 309 votes respectively. Its “big brother” gained Kalaghatagi with 39,378 votes and lost Raibagh to the Congress by 11,642 votes (BJP scored 38,091 votes).

In the case of Malavalli, it was the reported de facto presence of Siddaramaiah on the caste lines in support of the rebel Congress candidate who polled 45,287 votes that sealed the fate of the JD (U) which polled 9,062, the BJP (29,158 votes ) and the Congress 7,044 votes.

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

Karnataka