BJP’s debacle in Kalyana Karnataka due to complacency, say party leaders

All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge’s emotional appeal,  failure to counter Congress’ narrative on Constitution and complacency due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity are among main reasons for the BJP’s wipeout from Kalyana Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections, according to the BJP party leaders. 

The party leaders from Kalyana Karnataka told this at a two-day introspection meeting on the Lok Sabha poll results which started at the party’s headquarters here on Friday.  State BJP president B Y Vijayendra and in charge of the party’s Karnataka affairs Dr Radha Mohan Das Agarwal held meetings with the leaders from Bellary, Koppal, Raichur and Gulbarga Lok Sabha seats. 

The party leaders also felt that wrong candidate selections in Koppal, Bellary, Raichur and Gulbarga, heavy dependence on Modi’s image, absence of even a single booth agent in 300 polling stations in some constituencies helped the Congress to reach nearly 95% voter turnout in such booths.

In some constituencies, the JD(S) and BJP’s strong aspirants for MLA, Zilla and Taluk Panchayat seats were at war and the Congress succeeded in encashing these faultlines to cleanly sweep the Kalyana Karnataka region which sends five MPs to the Parliament, they explained to the party’s top leaders.

A small group of BJP leaders from Kalaburagi told DH that Gulbarga BJP MP  Umesh Jadhav, after defeating Congress stalwart Mallikarjuna Kharge in 2019, failed to remain in touch with the party workers.

“This attitude irked the local Congress leaders. During the Assembly elections, he failed to campaign actively on behalf of the BJP MLA candidates thinking that he would sail through on PM Modi’s brand name. Such issues, coupled with Kharge’s emotional pitch and anti-Constitution remarks by the BJP leaders, led to his defeat,” sources explained. 

Similarly, in Bellary seat where BJP’s ST face B Sreeramulu was trounced, the leaders said that he was defeated as the Congress succeeded in taking up differences between Nyasa Beda and Oora Beda, two dominant subsects within Scheduled Tribes as a main issue.

“Another fault from Sreeramulu was that he had left Bellary to contest from Molakalmuru Legislative Assembly seat in 2018 this resulted in voters turning their back on him in 2023 Assembly as well as 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” the sources noted.

The leaders from Koppal and Raichur reportedly alleged that the JD(S) leaders and BJP leaders, who are aspirants for the forthcoming Zilla, Taluk Panchayat and Assembly elections did not work together. Instead, they had a tacit understanding with local Congress leaders. As a result of this, the party lost these two seats, they said.