The general election in 1991 threw many surprises and one of them was Tumkur.
The constituency which was considered a Congress bastion till then was won by BJP.
The Rath Yatra of BJP stalwart L K Advani drew the voters in droves so much so that the Congress, though riding on the sympathy wave of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, could not retain the Tumkur seat.
S Mallikarjunaiah of the BJP defeated Congress’ G S Basavaraju in the elections. Basavaraju, after losing to him multiple times, joined the BJP later.