Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai suffered a significant setback as the Congress stole a victory in Hanagal in his district, Haveri, about 335 km from Bengaluru.
Srinivas Mane, the Congress candidate, won after he secured 87,490 votes and 50.95% of the vote, defeating Shivaraj Sajjanar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who won 80,117 votes.
The BJP got 46.45% of the votes.
The defeat in Bommai’s first electoral test added to speculation that all may not be well within the state unit of BJP.
“I got all the cooperation from the leaders we asked,” Bommai said in Bengaluru, reacting to the defeat in Hanagal and seeking to scotch rumours that some in his own party may have wanted Sajjanar to lose.
Some analysts partially attributed the defeat to the lack of support from the Panchamasalis, the largest sub-sect of the dominant Lingayat community, upset over an unfulfilled reservation-related request.
The chief minister, who earlier claimed that the bypoll will be an indicator to the 2023 polls in the state, walked back his earlier statement. “These elections are fought on that particular time and issues so it doesn’t give a verdict to the entire thing. I have taken this election setback very seriously,” Bommai said.
He listed three reasons for the loss; one was that the BJP did not get the same support that the party’s now deceased legislator, CM Udasi, did, second, the Congress candidates had done good work in the last 2-3 years, including during Covid-19.
{{/usCountry}}He listed three reasons for the loss; one was that the BJP did not get the same support that the party’s now deceased legislator, CM Udasi, did, second, the Congress candidates had done good work in the last 2-3 years, including during Covid-19.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP secured a resounding victory in the other assembly seat, Sindgi, defeating the Congress by over 30,000 votes. The Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) has effectively lost another seat in the 224-seater lower house of the state legislature. MC Managuli of the JD(S) won this seat in 2018 but died earlier this year, necessitating the bypolls.
DK Shivakumar, the KPCC president on Tuesday said that the BJP lost in Hangal despite being in power. “In Hangal, the result was as we expected. We thought we would win with a 10,000-15,000 difference. There was dissatisfaction against the BJP over price rise, corruption, and an incoherent government. Bommai and a dozen ministers camped there for a week. The neighbouring constituency is Shiggaon (Bommai’s constituency). He even made it a prestige battle, was present there, misused power, distributed money, but we still won,” Siddaramaiah, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly said.
CM Udasi of the BJP died in June and his son, Shivakumar Udasi (BJP MP from Haveri-Gadag seat) demanded that the ticket be given to his wife. This, however, was not to be the case, adding to the already growing differences within the ruling party. Shivakumar Udasi was also overlooked during the recent reshuffle of the union cabinet. The loss piles the pressure on Bommai who has to cope with dissent, is perceived to be under the control of former CM BS Yediyurappa, and has to deal with allegations of a multi-million dollar corruption scandal in which the opposition Congress has accused Bommai of purchasing Bitcoins over ₹2600 crore and the growing clamour of reservation by dominant and marginalised communities. Bommai has borne the burden of assurances made by his predecessor, Yediyurappa.
Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya Swami, an influential seer of the Panchamsali, issued a veiled threat against the Bommai government and even mentioned that in both constituencies, Panchamasalis were the deciding vote.
Vijayananda Kashyappanavar, the former Congress MLA and president of the Akhila Bharatha Lingayat Panchamasali Mahasabha said that in both constituencies, the BJP had not given a ticket to a member of this community.
Even the election incharge and state industries minister, Murugesh Nirani, is from the same community and was overlooked for the post of chief minister, people familiar with the matter said.
The BJP also lost another constituency Maski and saw its difference in parliamentary constituency Belagavi, about 4 lakhs in 2019, shrink to a few thousand, both in the May bypolls. “Losing Hangal is a big thing for the BJP. There was more focus on Hangal from the government ,” said A Narayana, political analyst and faculty at the Azim Premji University.