BJP sweeps K'taka bypolls

Bengaluru, December 9

The ruling BJP on Monday swept the Assembly bypolls in Karnataka, winning 12 of the 15 seats to help the four-month-old Yediyurappa government retain majority. The BJP sweep had an immediate fallout in the Opposition Congress with its Legislature Party Leader and former CM Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quitting their posts. The Congress won only two seats as against the 12 it held of the 15 which went to the bypolls.

Turncoats had a field day as 11 of the 13 in the fray after joining the BJP emerged victorious. The BJP’s emphatic win echoed in PM Narendra Modi’s poll rallies in Jharkhand where he accused the Congress and its allies of “stealing and subverting” people’s mandate in Karnataka last year. “The Congress and its allies subverted the mandate in Karnataka, stabbed it in the back…The Congress stole the mandate through the back door, and now people have punished it and taught it a lesson,” the PM said.

The Congress managed to win only Hunsur and Shivajinagar seats, while Independent Sharath Bachegowda, earlier expelled from the BJP for anti-party activities after he contested as a rebel, won in Hoskote. The by-polls were held to fill vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs, whose revolt led to the collapse of the 14-month-old HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power. PTI

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SALIENT POINTS

– Turncoats have a field day with 11 of 13 in fray after joining BJP victorious

– BJP’s gamble to field Cong, JDS defectors from who helped it come to power pays off.

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QUOTEs

-CM BS Yediyurappa

“We had given assurance to all disqualified MLAs that they will be made ministers. There is no question of backtracking from what was promised. We will give them responsibility to expand our party base”

– PM Narendra Modi

“Congress and allies subverted the mandate in Karnataka …the Congress stole the mandate through the back door, and now people have punished it.”