Polls - Karnataka '08

[dhu]

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[acharya]

Karnataka polls sign of things to come: BJP

New Delhi (PTI): Upbeat after its spectacular performance in Karnataka assembly polls, the BJP on Sunday termed the results as a "turning point" that indicates the shape of things to come in run up to the Lok Sabha elections.

Describing 2008 as a "year of change" in national politics, BJP's Prime Ministerial face L K Advani said his party's first win in a southern state showed the "geographical expansion" of the saffron party and "simultaneous shrinkage" of Congress.

The "triumph in Karnataka will prove to be a turning point", Advani said in a statement here as BJP emerged the leading party in the state assembly polls set to form the government there.

"This geographical expansion of the BJP, and the simultaneous shrinkage of the Congress party almost all over the country, shows the shape of things to come in the run-up to the next Parliamentary elections," he said.

He dubbed the poll victory as a verdict against the Congress party's "politics of opportunism" and the JD(S)'s "politics of betrayal".

Advani said the Congress party would be indulging in "self-delusion" if it thought that the people of Karnataka were influenced by the local factors.

"The UPA government's utter failure to control the prices of essential commodities, its soft and compromising policy on terrorism, and its insensitivity towards the plight of kisans have angered the common people all over the country," he said.

BJP President Rajnath Singh said his party had always been seen as a "North Indian party" but "now, we can say that the BJP is an all-India party... The BJP is now a front-runner in the Lok Sabha elections."

[acharya]

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Coastal Karnataka ditches the BJP

Govind D. Belgaumkar

The party’s tally for the region has come down to 10 seats

MANGALORE: The formation of the new government could have been a cakewalk for the Bharatiya Janata Party if it had maintained its strong presence in coastal Karnataka. Once known as the BJP’s bastion, it is the only region in the State where the party has lost significantly.

The picture in coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada is rather dismal. From its impressive performance in 2004, when it won 15 of 21 seats, the party’s tally for the region has come down to 10 out of 19 seats. Two constituencies were done away with in the delimitation exercise.
Loss

The party could have boasted of a comfortable majority it if had retained its position in the region. Though the BJP maintained its position in Udupi, where it won four of the five seats, the party lost two seats each in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada. Another loss came in the form of disappearance of Vittila constituency in Dakshina Kannada in the delimitation exercise. The BJP had won the constituency in 2004.

In Ankola, the party’s candidate Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri had won thrice there. But it, too, was done away with in Uttara Kannada. Mr. Kageri has now won from Sirsi.

In the district, the party has lost Bhatkal and Karwar to the Congress, which in turn lost Haliyal and Kumta to the Janata Dal (Secular) The JD(S) candidate Sunil V. Hegde upset R.V. Deshpande of the Congress in Haliyal. Mr. Deshpande had reportedly described himself as a Chief Ministerial candidate.

In Dakshina Kannada, the home district of the BJP’s Sate unit president D.V. Sadananda Gowda, the party lost Belthangady and Bantwal constituencies, both bagged by the Congress.

In the coastal region, the party’s share came down by about 5 per cent. In 2004, the BJP had gained 43.77 per cent of the 21.55 lakhs votes polled. But in the latest election, the party’s share of votes is down to 38.84 per cent.
Consolidation

The Congress, on the other hand, consolidated its position in the region by polling 39.33 per cent of the votes as against 38.64 per cent in 2004.

The Janata Dal (S), too, lost ground by more than three per cent in the region. The party did not have an MLA from this region in the previous Assembly.

The BJP has lost in absolute numbers also. While the party had 9.43 lakh voters supporting it in 2004, it now has only 9 lakh voters supporting it, though 2.34 lakh more men and women exercised their franchise this time. That figure goes up substantially if you account for the number of votes the party should have bagged if it were to maintain its share of 43.77 per cent.

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Road clear for BJP to work at government formation

S. Rajendran

We’ve nothing to do with independents: Kharge

We are ready to sit in Opposition: Kumaraswamy

Bangalore: The BJP is not expected to face any problems in government formation and thereafter during the floor test with the Congress and the JD(S) giving up the idea to hold on to at least a few of the six independents, who have emerged as the key players.

Of the six independents, four of them contested as Congress rebels after they were denied the party ticket. While a section of the Congressmen here on Sunday reportedly established a line of communication with these rebels and sought their support, the effort was given up subsequently following directions from the party high command.

Speaking to The Hindu, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee M. Mallikarjun Kharge said: “We have nothing to do with them (the independents). It is left to their conscience. They have been given the mandate as they fought the elections on secular ideology. If they want to cross over and extend support to a communal party, it is their choice and they are answerable to their constituents. They are not part of our party, and so we have no control over them. We also do not believe in horse-trading and offering inducements.”

Both the Congress and the JD(S) have reportedly decided to accept the defeat with grace rather than get together once again to merely keep the BJP out. While top Congress leaders have reportedly told the State leadership to refrain from attempting to win over the party rebels who contested as independents, the JD(S) reportedly told the Congress that it would extend support to it and that it was for the Congress to decide on what should be done next.

The former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is reportedly in touch with some Congress leaders, said: “We are a small regional party and have won only 28 seats. It is for the Congress to take a decision. The BJP is attempting to break our legislature party by getting in touch with some our MLAs. We will thwart such attempts. We have accepted the verdict of the people and will sit in the Opposition.”

While the Congress has called for a meeting of the legislature party on Wednesday, a meeting of the JD(S) Legislature Party has been called on Tuesday.

Mr. Kumaraswamy would be elected the leader of the JD(S) Legislature Party while in the case of the Congress, there are more than two contenders.

[acharya]

Three Messages from Karnataka

Filed Under Current Affairs, Politics

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B.J.P has won a decisive victory in Karnataka. Whether it signals B.J.P’s rise as a true pan-national party remains to be; there are specific local factors which may obstruct the party from making further advances south of the Vindhyas. Nevertheless, it is a significant victory, both for its implications on national politics and its confirmation of the changing nature of Indian polity. There are three fundamental messages which the Karnataka election has delivered.

First, B.J.P is now the fulcrum of Indian politics. In sixties, seventies and even in eighties, opposition parties bemoaned the fact that they lost elections because of the division of the anti-Congress vote. In the first past the post system, Congress ruled the roost as the opposition–even with a higher vote share–remained hopelessly divided. It may seem a life-time away but in 1989, a grand alliance consisting of Leftists, Centrists, and Rightists under the leadership of V.P Singh was cobbled together with the sole agenda of defeating the Congress.

But intense dislike is also a form of flattery. If disparate political parties with no ideological cohesion and multiple ambitious and competing leaders came together, they did so because they acknowledged that Congress was too powerful to be taken on individually. If they set aside their differences–even momentarily–they did so because the stranglehold of Congress was suffocating both ideologically as well as politically. The desperate anti-Congressism underscored that Congress was the center of Indian politics.

Prithviraj Chauhan and Kapil Sabil blaming the split in the ‘’secular vote” for the loss of the Congress party illustrates the tectonic shift in Indian politics: B.J.P is the new Congress. Not only is it a de facto admission that Congress is powerless to take on the B.J.P singlehandly, it concedes that anti-B.J.Pism has replaced anti-Congressism and all non B.J.P parties must form unnatural alliances merely to defeat the saffron party. After all, despite the secular plank, Congress and JD(S) have as much in common as the original Janata Dal had with B.J.P in 1989.

Perceptive readers may point out that Congress had conceded as much by forming the UPA in 2004 elections especially after its Pachmarhi resolution rejecting coalition politics. But UPA was an exercise in government formation; it still accorded Congress monopoly in fighting elections at local levels especially in its area of dominance. However, What Chauhan and Sibal acknowledged was that Congress cannot defeat the BJP even in straight contests necessitating alliance formation at state level.

At the political level, this admission may translate in to alliances with ‘’secular” regional parties like BSP in Madhya Pradesh resulting in replacement of single party Congress governments over large swathes of country by UPA type coalitions. At a ideological level, it is clear that Congress is in terminal decline and is no longer the premier national party.

Second, the most satisfying aspect of the Karnataka results is the virtual decimation of Gowda and sons. Their so-called party had held Karnataka hostage for the last four years and Gowda had nursed ambitions of playing the king-maker again. The electorate has dashed their hopes to the ground and reduced them to virtual non-entities. But it is BJP and not the Congress which has been a major beneficiary of the defeat of Gowdas: Why?

After the UP debacle, Arun Jaitley had observed that national parties are handicapped in elections which see a large degree of caste polarization. National parties, naturally, must offer a broader social coalition which may be unable to compete with a party owning the absolute allegiance of a single caste/religion.

In Karnataka, the Congress attempted to circumvent this problem by harking back to its tried and tested formula of offering sops to each and every community illustrated most clearly by its phalanx of leaders in contrast to BJP’s presidential style campaign revolving around Yeddyurappa. BJP, on the other hand, relied on a single issue–development–and hoped it would transcribe the barriers of community allegiance. It is clear who has succeeded.

The grammar of Indian politics is changing. The Congress party’s attempts to position it self as a giant umbrella which takes cares of every community by handing out communal hand outs has been defeated by a focussed and singleminded emphasis on development. An improved road network, for example, benefits everyone. Politicians may continue to play populist games–free power, loan waivers–but populism needs to be buttressed by a focus on overall development. It is a paradigmatic shift and the Congress party, caught in a time warp, has been extremely slow to realize that. The delimitation exercise which has substantially added to the number of urban seats makes it even more imperative for the Congress to learn the language of development.

Third, the era of stability is returning to Indian politics. After multiple fractured verdicts resulting in wobbly coalitions and dysfunctional governments, the voter is increasingly veering towards entrusting a single political party or formation with power. In Bihar, NDA swept to power, in UP, after 15 long years, BSP won simple majority, in Gujarat, Narendra Modi won decisively; Karnataka continues this broader national trend. Does it signify a squeezing of the third space? Not necessarily, but parties which have thrived by playing the spoiler may no longer find favor with the voters.

The voters of Karnataka have spoken. Political parties which have learned their lessons will do well in the multiple state elections scheduled for this year and the general elections in 2008. Interesting times lie ahead.

[Capt M Kumar]

<!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> A Jarring note:
Gowda tries to woo Cong into alliance in Karnataka
27 May 2008, 0327 hrs IST,Subodh Ghildiyal,TNN
NEW DELHI: Reduced to half its strength and fearing a split in the party, a desperate Janata Dal (Secular) on Monday made a determined bid to rope in Congress for a coalition government in Karnataka.

Top Congress leaders, it is learnt, received several telephone calls and feelers round the day from former PM H D Deve Gowda, his son and messengers, as the latter tried to drive home that their political arrangement, along with three victorious Congress rebels, would effectively end BJP's hopes of forming a government in the state.

However, the move was rebuffed by Congress even though there was eagerness at local level to give the proposal a shot.

BJP has 110 seats, Congress 80, JD(S) 28 while six independents round off the tally in the assembly. Gowda is apprehensive that a comfortably-placed BJP, three short of majority mark, would manage to rope in "unemployed" independents if the Congress did not bid for power.

Once B S Yeddyurappa proves his majority, there are bound to be rumblings in JD(S) with its MLAs and BJP mutually eager to strike a quid pro quo deal. While the CM would be keen to bolster his numbers beyond the bare-majority mark, JD(S) MLAs would be vulnerable to baits of ministerial posts, fully aware that the single-party government was in for a full tenure.

To Gowda's woes, a split in a small contingent of 28 MLAs would not be difficult under the new anti-defection provisions.

The former prime minister — in the unenvious position as villain for both the political rivals Congress and BJP with whom he joined hands after 2004 polls — was driven enough to even propose names of Congress MLAs for the chief minister's post.

It is reliably learnt that Gowda forwarded the name of Dalit MLA and newly inducted CWC member G Parameshwara for the top job. His favourite Dharam Singh and a couple of others have already lost.

However, Congress is learnt to have conveyed that it was against subverting the unambiguous mandate in favour of saffron outfit. A decision against any misadventure was taken on Sunday itself when, after a review meeting, it was decided that the party would elect its CLP leader on May 28 in Bangalore in a huddle to be attended by central observers.

Gowda's late charge to salvage the situation in his favour is driven by the results. His party has been reduced to 28 MLAs against 58 in the last polls which made him an indispensable piece in the state jigsaw, enabling him to dictate to Congress to appoint a pliable chief minister of his choice while also cornering plum portfolios.

He later switched sides, with his son H D Kumaraswamy taking over the top post in a rotational-CM arrangement with BJP.

The acrimonious relationship between the two ended when the 'humble farmer' pulled out the "secular" card from his hat to refuse transfer of power to the saffron outfit.

[Guest]

Gowda is back to his dirty politics, complete shameless person.

[Capt M Kumar]

<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> And look at this jokerespite BJP win, Cong vote share still higher
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1 Capt M Kumar,USA,says:Sir, as you see in last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had 18 out of 28 seats but it took 2 elections thereafter to come to power in state. In nutshell, there are as many chinks in your top title story as you purport in Advani's projections. Whereas it's alright for Advani to be partisan but in your case, it's loss of credibility. Will you please desist from giving credence to such off the cuff manipulation of stastitcs?

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>5 Independents bargain hard, help BJP get its numbers</b>
With the Independent MLAs bargaining hard for providing support - with one member even doing a Madhu Koda and angling for the Chief Minister's post -the process of staking claim to form the government was delayed.

When newly elected BJP legislators gathered at the residence of Yeddyurappa, past noon on Monday, to elect a legislature party leader, Independent MLAs were not present. However, BJP leaders claimed two were on their way. Also missing from the group of legislators were the Reddy brothers, millionaire MLAs from iron mining district of Bellary.

In an apartment less than a kilometre away, the Reddy brothers were holding parleys with several Independent MLAs in an effort to muster up at least the three needed by the BJP to touch 113.

<b>The BJP was sure only about Shivraj Thangadagi, a BJP rebel candidate from Kanakagiri in the Koppal district. By early evening, the party also managed to bring on board Goolihatti Shekhar, a miner and JDS rebel from Hosadurga in Chitradurga district</b>. Among the other Independents, P M Narendraswamy from Malavalli in the Mandya district, an S M Krishna loyalist who did not get a Congress ticket, is reported to have suggested the option of being made Chief Minister.

Another Congress rebel D Sudhakar, a Congress rebel from Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district, angled for the Home Ministry while Venkataramanappa, another Congress rebel from the Pavagada constituency in Tumkur district, sought the Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry, sources said.

While the BJP had also approached the six Independent MLA, R Varthur Prakash from Kolar, the Congress rebel lost out after he made a public statement that he wants his political guru Siddaramaiah to become the Chief Minister in a Congress-JDS coalition.

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Capt M Kumar]

<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
related blog of mine blogged in y2k6
http://o3.indiatimes.com/sanyastoSonia
'4 independents are ruling the Jharkhand and it's all Lalu's connivance with the consent of Sonia. This bids very dangerous portends for nation's polity overall'

[acharya]

Smaller parties draw a blank in the elections

Staff Reporter

Janata Dal (United) could not open its account this time

Fringe and smaller parties played a crucial role

BANGALORE: With the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) winning a lion’s share of the 224 seats in the State Assembly, smaller parties such as the Janata Dal (United), Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Lok Paritran, Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha and even the Maharashtra Ekikarana Samithi (MES) failed to win even a seat.

Surprisingly, the Janata Dal (United) that had eight seats in the previous Assembly could not open its account this time.

Its president, B. Somashekar, who contested from Malavalli, lost too.

In Shimoga, the Samajwadi Party not only failed to make any headway, but also had to face the ignonimity of seeing its State unit president S. Bangarappa losing out to the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa.

While the Samajwadi Party had fielded its candidates in over 100 seats, the BSP had fielded its candidates in over 200 seats. However, both drew a blank.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also lost the lone seat that it had held in the previous Assembly, as it’s nominee Sriram Reddy lost to Congress candidate N. Sampangi in Bagepalli.The Lok Paritran, which had fielded educated candidates — most of whom were engineers and mostly in Bangalore — could make no dent on the electoral fortunes.

Almost all their candidates, finished behind those representing the major parties, and many of them even lost their deposit.

In Belgaum, the MES, which held three seats in the previous Assembly, not only failed to retain them but did not register any win in the district, which it considers its bastion.

Once the hub of pro-Marathi movement, the MES now seems to have lost the steam. Political analysts say the holding of an Assembly session by the H.D Kumaraswamy-led government in Belgaum and its decision to make it the second capital swayed people away from the faction-ridden MES.
Vatal loses

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj, who was a member of last Assembly, lost his deposit in Chamarajnagar and all his candidates too faced a similar fate.

If in a majority of the constituencies that went to elections, it was a straight fight between the three leading parties, in several other constituencies the fringe and smaller parties played a crucial role.

Though their candidates did not win, the votes they polled led to the defeat of candidates belonging to leading political parties. --
==


Congress fails to convert high vote percentage to seats

Nagesh Prabhu

Party emerges runner-up in 116 segments


BANGALORE: Though the Bharatiya Janata Party polled a lesser percentage of votes than the Congress in the Legislative Assembly elections, it still emerged the largest party in the 224-member Lower House by bagging 110 seats.

The Congress candidates emerged as runner-up in 116 constituencies and the BJP candidates in 58.

The Janata Dal (Secular) nominees stood second in 39 constituencies.

In the 2004 Legislative Assembly elections also, the BJP had polled a lesser percentage of votes than the Congress but had still won the highest number of seats (79). The Congress bagged 65 seats in 2004.

In the just concluded elections, the BJP’s vote percentage has increased to 33.86 from 28.49 in 2004, an increase of 5.37.

Over five per cent swing in favour of the BJP helped it get an additional 31 seats and the party is all set to form its first government in the South with the support of independents.

The Congress polled 34.59 per cent votes and secured 80 seats.

The party has obtained 15 more seats despite a 0.69 per cent decline in its vote-share. In 2004, the Congress got 35.28 per cent votes.

The Janata Dal (Secular) has polled 19.11 per cent of votes against 20.59 per cent in 2004, a decline of 1.48 per cent. The seat share of the party also declined sharply from 58 in 2004 to 28 in 2008.
Poor show by JD(U)

The voting percentage of the Janata Dal (United) declined significantly in the 2008 elections. The party, which had won five seats in 2004, failed to secure even a single seat this time. The party received just 0.32 per cent of the votes in 2008 against 2.08 per cent in 2004.

The Janata Dal (United) stood fourth in terms of voting percentage in 2004, sources at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer told The Hindu.

The Congress polled 90.48 lakh votes, the BJP 88.57 lakh, Janata Dal (Secular) 50 lakh and the Bahujan Samaj Party 18.08 lakh votes in the State in the three-phase polling.

As many as 27 political parties had secured less than one per cent of votes in the 2008 elections. More than 2.61 crore voters exercised their franchise.
Independents

The vote share of independent candidates increased marginally from 6.89 per cent in 2004 to 6.91 per cent in 2008. Six independents won the elections this time against 13 in 2004.



The Bahujan Samaj Party received 2.74 per cent of votes (1.75 per cent in 2004) while the Samajwadi Party bagged 0.93 per cent of votes polled in 2008.
Runner-up candidates

With regard to runner-up candidates in the Assembly elections, the Congress candidates stood second in 116 constituencies followed by BJP (58), Janata Dal-Secular, (39), independents (5), BSP (2), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Republic Party of India, Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and SP in one constituency each.

<img src='http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/27/images/2008052759300601.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

[acharya]

In Bagalkot, BJP makes a clean sweep

Special Correspondent

BJP wins all the seven seats in the district

Many Congress heavyweights have been defeated

BAGALKOT: An increase of a whopping 5.76 per cent votes in favour of the Congress was not enough to boost its tally in Bagalkot district. And a drop in the vote share of 0.7 per cent did not stop the BJP from winning all the seven seats in the district.

The Congress, which went all out to regain lost ground in Bagalkot district, secured 26.97 per cent of the total votes in the district. But that was not enough to stop the BJP surge, and the party lost all the seven seats

Many political heavyweights including the former Ministers H.Y. Meti (Bagalkot); B.B. Chimmankatti (Badami); Ajaykumar Sarnaik (Bilagi); R.C. Thimmapur (Mudhol); the former Union Minister Siddu Nyamagouda (Jamkhandi); Kannada actor and theatre personality Umasri (Terdal); and Vijayanand Kashappannavar (Hungund) were defeated.

The BJP overcame the problems of internal differences and open dissidence and gave a better performance compared to the 2004 elections.

The party’s performance, as far as the vote share is concerned, has been far below expectations. It has come down to 32.19 per cent. The winners who brought the honours to the BJP included the former Minister Govind Karjol (Mudhol); Siddu Savadi (Terdal), Srikant Kulkarni (Jamkhandi); M.K. Pattanshetty (Badami); Doddangouda Patil (Hungund); Murugesh Nirani (Bilagi); and Veeranna Charanthimutt (Bagalkot City).

In Bijapur district too, the BJP put up a good show winning five of the eight seats, despite the vote share of the party coming down from 19.53 per cent in 2004 to 17.51 per cent. The Congress party secured 1.87 per cent votes more than the BJP, but could win only three seats as against the five seats won by the BJP. Its vote share dropped to 19.38 per cent. The vote share of the Janata Dal (S) remained more or less the same at 9.83 per cent, but the party failed to win even a single seat. One of the surprise losers in Bijapur district is the former Union Minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal who lost to political greenhorn A.S. Patil Nadahalli by a margin of nearly 27,000 votes. Another surprise loser is Ravikant Patil who suffered defeat in Indi constituency.

===


They are the kingmakers of 2008

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Joining hands: BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa along with the supporting independent candidates Goolihatti Shekar and Shivaraj Thangadagi, during the BJP legislature party meeting in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: It has been a dream win for the independent candidates who have made it to the 13th Legislative Assembly. For, they hold the key to the formation of the next government. Incidentally, four of these independent MLAs are Dalits.
Goolihatti Shekar

Mr. Shekar, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste, has been elected from Hosadurga constituency in Chitradurga District.

He is basically a granite merchant. He was associated with the Janata Dal (Secular) and was a close associate of Janata Dal (S) leader Y.S.V. Datta. Though the JD(S) had offered him ticket, Mr. Shekar decided to contest as an independent as he feared that the dominant Lingayat community in Hosadurga may not support him if he entered the fray as Janata Dal (S) candidate. Incidentally, Hosadurga constituency has a history of electing independent candidates to the Assembly.
Shivaraj Tangadagi

Mr. Shivaraj who is also a Dalit has made it to the Assembly from Kanakagiri (Reserved) Constituency in Koppal district.

He too is a granite merchant. Though Shivaraj started his political career with the Congress, he moved to the Bharatiya Janata Party and was the State vice-president of the BJP Yuva Morcha.

He is said to be a relative of the BJP leader Arvind Limbavali. Though he had aspired for the BJP ticket from Kanakagiri, the party had turned down his request following opposition from the party’s Raitha Morcha leader H.M. Thipperudraswamy.
Varthur Prakash

Mr. Prakash, who hails from Varthur on the outskirts of Bangalore, has won from Kolar constituency as an independent.

A close follower of Siddaramaiah, Mr. Prakash was denied Congress ticket. He is into real estate business and belongs to the Kuruba community. He is also a member of the Bangalore Urban Zilla Panchayat.

He has trounced the former Minister Srinivasa Gowda of the Congress.
P.M. Narendraswamy

Mr. Narendraswamy, a staunch Congress worker, has been elected from Malavalli (Reserved) constituency in Mandya district. He holds a degree in civil engineering and hails from a political family. He had unsuccessfully contested the 1999 and 2004 Assembly elections from Malavalli on Congress ticket. After the party denied him a ticket, he contested as an independent. He is said to be a personal follower of the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna as well as Siddaramaiah.
Venkataramanappa

Mr. Venkataramanappa is the third-time MLA from Pavagada (Reserved) Constituency in Tumkur district. A school dropout, 58-year-old Venkataramanappa is an agriculturist. He was elected to the Assembly in 1989 and 1999. He contested as a Congress rebel after the party denied him ticket.
D. Sudhakar

Mr. Sudhakar, who was elected to the previous Assembly from Challakere as a Congress candidate, has now won as an independent from Hiriyur constituency. Mr. Sudhakar is into mining-related business and is a relative of the former Challakere MLA Jayanna. He belongs to the Jain community. He is said to be a follower of Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar.

[shamu]

<!--QuoteBegin-acharya+May 27 2008, 11:27 AM-->QUOTE(acharya @ May 27 2008, 11:27 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Congress fails to convert high vote percentage to seats<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Can this be interpreted as Congress has big pockets of supporters where it won seats with very high margins and BJP had more broadbased support and won more seats with smaller majority?

[dhu]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Why Kaveri wears saffron</b>
Tarun Vijay

The saffron Karnataka wears is aglow with the sacrifices of the anonymous workers who lived with a reason, for a cause. Who sowed saffron in Karnataka's soil – like Yadav Rao Joshi, H V Seshadri, Suryanarain Rao, often going to sleep on an empty stomach but worked day and night to spread the message of a strong nationalism, motherland first and foremost. Everything else was secondary.

When Seshadri breathed his last, he was listening to the Sangh prayer – namaste sada vatsale matribhume (Salutations to thee, O beloved motherland...) But Vidhan Saudha was never on their radar of achievements. Their mission was and remains a total transformation of society into a proud, strong, self-reliant, knowledge reservoir with character which would lead Bharat, which is India, into the highest ranks of the comity of nations. Political power is just one small step in that direction.

The people who remember their past have a future. The saffron we see blooming in the South is powered with the ideas of a man whose birth anniversary would largely go unnoticed today. Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the name of the man who shook Hindus from their lethargic and self-demeaning attitude and who put the word Hindutva in vogue.

I remember Madhumangal Sharma who was killed while reading a book by Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya in his Imphal house. The day bullets pierced his heart, through the book, happened to be 11th February, 1995. It was also the martyrdom day of the author he liked most, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, who was murdered mysteriously on 11th Feb 1968 on a moving train.

One could wonder in these times of extreme parochialism why a Manipuri in Imphal would be reading a book by a northerner? The same Manipur has banned all books of Hindi writers, Hindi movies, and finally the national anthem now.

The martyrdom of Pt Upadhyaya and Madhumangal and many others for a cause energised a collective will to bring change in polity. That's what nationalism is all about. Different parts, one body. There are youngsters who still have the courage to stand for a broader, Indian nationalism in Manipur facing foreign-funded extremists who have otherwise succeeded in silencing all other voices reflecting Indianness.

What makes them brave the bullets? Love for motherland, and that's saffron unquestioningly.

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was born in Bengal and became the youngest ever vice-chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of 33. He was a close friend of Kaji Nazrul Islam, helped him when he needed most, was a part of the family of Rabindranath Tagore, became a legendary figure in his life time, inherited a legacy Bengal is justifiably proud of, and he died for Kashmir. His mysterious “death” in the jail of Sheikh Abdullah, in Srinagar on 23rd June 1953 raised questions that are still unanswered. The only reason for his untimely death was his demand that Kashmir be assimilated in India like any other state. And there should not be two flags, two constitutional provisions and two heads in relation to Kashmir. He was arrested for entering the valley without a permit, in his own country and jailed where he met a sudden death.

Mookerjee’s mother, Jogmaya Devi wrote to Nehru on 4 July 1953: “His death is shrouded in mystery. Is it not most astounding and shocking that ever since his detention there, the first information that I, his mother, received from the government of Kashmir was that my son was 'no more', and that also at least two hours after the end? And in what a cruel, cryptic way the message was conveyed! '. A fearless son of free India has met his death while 'in detention without trial' under most tragic and mysterious circumstances. I, the mother of the great departed soul, demand that an absolutely impartial and open enquiry by independent and competent persons be held without any delay. I know nothing can bring back to us the life that is no more. But I do want that the people of India must judge for themselves, the real causes of this great tragedy enacted in a free country and the part that was played by your government.”

Nehru gave a short reply on 5 July 1953: “l did not venture to write to you before without going into the matter of Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee's detention and death fairly carefully. I have since enquired further into it from a number of persons who had occasion to know 'some facts'. I can only say to you that I arrived at the clear and honest conclusion that there is no mystery in this and that Dr Mookerjee was given every consideration.”

This was really rude and Jogmaya Devi replied on 9th July, 1953: “Your letter dated 5th July reached me on the 7th. It is a sad commentary on the whole situation. Instead of helping to clear up the mystery, your attitude deepens it (further). I demanded an open enquiry. I did not ask 'for your clear and honest conclusion'. Your reaction to the whole affair is now well known. The people of India and I, the mother, have got to be convinced. There is a rooted suspicion in the mind of many. What is required is 'an open, impartial, immediate enquiry'.

'Your experience in jails is known to all. It was at one time a matter of great national pride with us. But you had suffered imprisonment under an alien rule and my son has met his death in detention without trial under a national government. It is futile to address you further. You are afraid to face facts. I hold the Kashmir government responsible for the death of my son. I accuse your government of complicity in the matter.”

Nehru never cared to reply.

Shyama Prasad's martyrdom too has added to the saffron we see in Karnataka.

The Kothari brothers and others who died facing brutal police repression in Ayodhya during their satyagraha to demand a Ram Temple in 1990 is a scar on India's body that would hardly be forgotten. The other side of the secular Talibanism creates ghettoes of Gulags and Siberia-ism for votebank politics. Hasn't the accumulated angst against these discriminations fuelled a change in the Indian political scene? Remember the best of Indian soldiers, editors and actors like Gen Candeth, Gen. Jacob, Girilal Jain and Victor Banerjee joined the saffron side in the aftermath of Ayodhya. And who were those who died demanding a ban on cow slaughter? Were they simply an expendable crowd of illiterate, empty-headed buffoons, trampling on other's rights in times when editors love to write about restaurants serving the most tasty beef?

Those teachers and truck drivers and auto-rickshaw owners who were killed in Kannur and Palakad just for wearing saffron have also contributed to the Karnataka victory.

And those hundreds of highly qualified selfless workers who lived and died anonymously for seeing saffron bloom, did help in paving the way for the leaders who rule today with a broad smile on their faces, though they never aspired to work for a political fortune.

Who were those workers who dedicated their lives for a cause that would never provide them comfort or fame? What was that magic bond that bound them in a solidarity that would not be shaken under any circumstances. They first fought the British, then the Communists and their political mates in Congress and progressed astoundingly well in spite of a collective media assault and opposition that would surpass every logic and sense of balance. Today the saffron brotherhood is running the largest number of successful schools, has the highest number of service projects in slums and tribal areas across the country from Port Blair to Leh and Naharlagun to the Nilgiris, runs centres to train Scheduled Caste youths as priests and computer engineers and provides the nation the sinews it needs during any crisis. None will see these elements of fire and light but will only comment frivolously on the electoral underpinnings and caste-religion equations. The saffron we see blooming over the Vidhan Saudha in Bangalore is the result of a collective will engulfing the grand Indian picture we worship as mother incarnate.

Those who occupy the plush chairs inside must remember this and the responsibility that comes along with wearing colour. The land of Hampi and Basaveshwara and Kanak Dasa wants to see that the polluted Kaveri (Cauvery) of public administration, behavior and accountability be cleaned and Sanskrit and Sanskriti (culture) flowers unhindered. Always remember why Hampi was razed and for whom. Should the children of that past forget their ancestors and get glued to elements that negate the fragrance of the land?

Karnataka results have defied the pettiness of the polity we had been witnessing over water sharing and language–regional conflicts and have proved that merger with the nationalist cause is worthier than asserting parochial and smaller identities. It's also a verdict against hate and ideological apartheid.

<b>Media with seculars of the red variety have turned saffron into a term of abuse and derided its use as if belonging to saffron is a sin. </b>Today with Karnataka, saffron rules over seven states on its own. The red smart seculars, self-obsessed “upholders” of the peace marches and candle-burning rituals for Afzals and betrayers of faith, find themselves completely marginalized and shrunk. Naturally so. As the grand Indian vision expands, the myopic market managers of Marx and Macs will have to squeeze into a smaller space.

<b>I have always maintained that the hate factor in Indian politics is a contribution of the left and alien thought processes.</b> Swami Dayananda fiercely attacked the practice of idol worship among Hindus but he was accommodated and respected, not turned into an outcaste and fatwa-ed to death. Guru Nanak and Kabir criticized ritualism and the blind faith prevalent among influential Hindus. But they were revered and adored. Hate and animosity on the basis of beliefs is alien to Hindus and was introduced by those who are inherently intolerant to the different viewpoint.

There is no reason for the hate between various political parties in India – after all they all swear to work for the good of India and Indians. The polity must play on the foundation of a pan-Indian vision. Programmes may differ but the fragmentisation must come to an end giving way to fraternisation. Seculars have so far invested their pride in being backward, most backward and other backwards. Yet they call themselves as most progressives. See what's happening in Rajasthan. A matter of pride?

It's the dharma of all Indian political organisations to see that India prospers and doesn't fall prey to divisive and mutually hateful policies to nurse vote banks. The nation must stand taller than the South Blocked ambitions. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

<b>
Mandate is not for the BJP: CPI(M)</b>

Special Correspondent

‘About 66 per cent of the votes polled was anti-BJP’

‘Illegal mining and land grabbing helped the BJP’

BANGALORE: The Communist Party of India–Marxist (CPI-M) has taken a stand that the verdict in the State Assembly elections was not in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has won 110 seats.

The CPI(M) State Secretariat has said that the BJP’s vote share was only 33.9 per cent.
<b>
This meant that 66.1 per cent of the votes polled were anti-BJP.

It analysed that the BJP had contested 198 seats in 2004 and had a vote share of 28.33 per cent.

In 2008, it contested in all the 224 seats and increased its vote share by 5.6 per cent.

The analysis pointed out that the party which has not been able to get 50 per cent of the votes got 50 per cent of the seats. It attributed this fact to the limitations in the electoral system.</b>

In a proportional representation election system, a party with 34 per cent of the votes would get only 34 per cent of seats.

It is evident that the 66 per cent of the voters who exercised their franchise have voted against the BJP which meant that the people of Karnataka wanted a non-BJP government and a secular party to come to the power.

The CPI(M) accused the BJP of resorting to unlawful ways and means to win votes.

Illegal mining and land grabbing were important issues which helped the BJP to grab power.

The CPI(M) blamed the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre for failing to control price rise and not keeping the public distribution system working which had given the BJP to leverage these issues to gain votes in Karnataka.

The document signed by secretariat member Nithyananada Swamy and secretary V.J.K. Nair expressed disappointment that the party was not able to win even one seat.

[acharya]

FKCCI hails verdict of Assembly elections

BANGALORE: The Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) has welcomed the recent electoral verdict of the people of Karnataka. In a release, the president-elect of FKCCI D. Muralidhar said the FKCCI looked forward to the new Government in providing stability in administration and improving the overall economic climate by bringing in more investments into the State. Mr. Muralidhar said many infrastructure projects in the city were yet to take off.— Staff Reporter


Katta Subramanya Naidu in hospital

BANGALORE: The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu who won the Hebbal Assembly seat in the recent elections has been admitted to a private hospital in Kerala after he complained of severe back pain. Sources close to him told The Hindu that although his name figures in the list of party leaders to be sworn-in as ministers on Friday along with B.S. Yeddyurappa, owing his health condition Mr. Subramanya Naidu would be sworn in at a later date. Doctors attending on him have advised him rest for a fortnight. — Special Correspondent

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Kharge criticised for Congress’s defeat

BANGALORE: The former NGEF chairman V. Shankar criticised the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, on what he termed as the poor handling of the party affairs during the Assembly elections. <b>He told presspersons that he had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi explaining the reasons for the party’s debacle.</b>

— Staff Reporter

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Independents may be made ministers

B.S. Satish Kumar

Some senior MLAs are likely to be left out

Party leaders met some MLAs on ministry formation

Bangalore city may get six ministerial berths

BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might have managed to get the required numbers to form the Government by mustering the support of six independent members.

But the support from the independent members has also given rise to heartburn among some of the ministerial aspirants of the party.

The reported decision by the party to reward some of the independent candidates with ministerial berths is bound to block the opportunity of some aspirants within the BJP. A few senior legislators, who have been elected three times, might lose an opportunity to become ministers as the party wants to accommodate independents in the ministry.

The party leaders reportedly held an informal discussion with a few MLAs and ministerial aspirants on Wednesday and explained the compelling political situation to them.

Speculation was on regarding not only the probable ministerial candidates, but also on their portfolios. Bangalore city, which has elected 17 BJP MLAs, is likely to get five or six ministerial berths (including for MLCs).

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the swearing-in ceremony in front of the Vidhana Soudha.

Several daises are being set up for seating those taking the oath and some of the VVIPs attending the swearing-in ceremony.

Bangalore City Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao and Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms Secretary Syed Zameer Pasha met the Chief Minister-designate, B.S. Yeddyurappa, at his residence on Wednesday and discussed the preparations for the swearing-in ceremony. Mr. Yeddyurappa had his morning walk on the premises of Vidhana Soudha, especially the venue of the swearing-in ceremony.
<b>
The lobbying for the ministerial posts continued on Wednesday. A group of minority workers staged a demonstration in front of the party office demanding that party vice-president Mumtaz Ali Khan should not be given a ministerial berth.</b>

Instead, they sought the ministerial berth to Altaf Hussein.
<b>
When contacted by The Hindu, BJP Minority Morcha President and former MLA Derrick M. B. Fullinfaw took exception to such a demonstration and said it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to choose a person of his choice for the ministerial berth. He said the protesters were not BJP members. </b>

[acharya]

There is reason to beleive that congress deliberately lost the Karnataka election.
It may be for reason to reduce the pressure on UPA on the nuke deal.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/may/26inter.htm

What was your strategy to win the Karnataka election?

We took a few steps before the election. The party should be clear about the leader. We selected B S Yeddyurappa. He has a huge record of struggle in Karnataka. There was a time when he was the only BJP MLA in Karnataka.

He has struggled for the party. He has toured the length and breadth of the state. He comes from a background where his social base is quite strong. In fact, his presence has added value for the BJP in a large part of Karnataka.

You will also recall that there were certain problems in the organisation. But I found that Ananth Kumar's attitude in the election was extremely constructive. Both Ananth Kumar and Yeddyurappa unanimously decided 224 candidates for the party along with other leaders.

We had no problems during the campaign, we had some problems initially. Broadly, my strategy was to give a free hold to the candidates in the state and inject the central leadership. We had (BJP prime ministerial candidate L K) Advaniji, (Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra) Modi, Sushmaji (Swaraj), (BJP President) Rajnath Singh and (former BJP president M) Venkaiah Naidu who addressed almost 200 public meetings in the state. Compare that to the one meeting of Dr Manmohan Singh [Images], six of Mrs Sonia Gandhi [Images] and a few hours of Rahul Gandhi [Images]. I thought the Congress campaign was a little lukewarm.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is reason to beleive that congress deliberately lost the Karnataka election.
It may be for reason to reduce the pressure on UPA on the nuke deal.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No, problem was heat. Queen and Baba can't take heat. Moron Singh had eye surgery on Election Day. Congress pumped in lot of cash. I think they lost because lack of leadership and will. Now people have other options, previously, in south it was Congress, later it was regional party. After one full term in center, BJP had become main party and people have choice.
If BJP can deliver good governance, they can come back or they will be like Congress. Monopoly of any political party is not good for country or citizens. Indian leadership is weak but Indian public is smart and they are forcing leadership to show spine. Public pressure may produce good and strong leadership.

[Guest]

<b>'25 pc of Muslims voted BJP in Karnataka'</b>
This is a big number.

[ramana]

From The Telegraph, 29 May 2008

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->IN A LAND OF MULTIPLE FISSURES 
<b>What stands out in the Karnataka results is not the defeat of the Congress, but the scale of the BJP’s victory,</b> writes Mahesh Rangarajan


Karnataka has done more than reject the Congress second time running. <b>It has given the Bharatiya Janata Party a chance to run the state on its own for five years. By gaining power in a southern state, the latter has a chance to prove it is a truly national force.</b> In turn, the Congress has to reassess what went wrong.

Social realignments will go a long way in explaining why the baton was passed. B.S. Yeddyurappa, the veteran of many an assembly election is a Lingayat, and he was projected as the future chief minister throughout the entire campaign by his party. There were as many as four Lingayat chief ministers in a row from 1956 to 1972. These included the veteran Congressman S. Nijalingappa, Indira Gandhi’s bête noire during the split of 1969. Eventually, it was the young prime minister who had the last laugh. She picked the young Devaraj Urs as her handyman and he trounced the old guard in the southern state. Karnataka, like Andhra Pradesh, stood like a rock by Indira after the Emergency.

Indira’s magic worked for longer here than the rest of India. The forced sterilizations and the slum demolitions of north India had no counterpart here. In fact, the Seventies were a period when wealth and opportunity spread more evenly. In the coastal areas in particular, land was even redistributed to small holders, and tenants got a measure of protection.

When the Congress did lose power, it was to a minority government headed by the late Ramakrishna Hegde in 1983. Hegde combined suave charm with guile, and though a Brahmin himself, he cultivated the Lingayats and was accepted as their leader. The Hegde years in the Eighties saw the Janata Dal being steered towards a majority of its own in 1985.

When he boldly dissolved the House after being routed by Rajiv Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls, few thought that he would win. But win he did and he set about devolving power to the panchayats, reserving seats for women and developing groundwater irrigation. With lieutenants like Abdul Nazir Sahib, there was no putting a foot wrong.

Or so it seemed.

It was the public works and irrigation minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, who felt cheated. He left the party and fought against it in 1989, ensuring its defeat. When the Janata Dal returned to power in 1994, it was with Deve Gowda at its helm. A year and a half later, Deve Gowda, not Hegde, became prime minister of the third Janata-led government at the Centre.

<b>The Janata Dal was always an uneasy mix of different interest groups. The Vokkaligas and the Lingayats, both dominant peasant castes, from the south and north of the state respectively, had little in common. The main aim was to keep the lower backward classes and Dalits in place. In the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, they made common cause with Muslims, a substantial 12 per cent of the state’s population.</b>

<b>The landed groups more or less dominated the Janata space.</b> In the Eighties, the senior and distinguished Dalit leader, B. Rachaiah, never made it beyond the rank of a senior minister. More recently, A. Siddaramiah, who is from a pastoral community, had to leave the Janata Dal as there is no scope for rising above the second slot.

The same Vokkaliga-Lingayat alliance was sought to be recreated when Deve Gowda and the BJP tied up to share power. The former was still at the head of a rainbow coalition, but as he put family before party, his own old loyalist followers drifted away. The BJP in turn actually gained from the way he toppled its short-lived government in November 2007.

What is more striking about the recently concluded assembly elections is not the defeat of the Congress. <b>What stands out is the scale of the win of the BJP. This is not evident at first glance, but becomes clear once one looks at the various macro-regions that make up the state.</b>

<b>The urban vote was all important.</b> Except in the metropolis of Bangalore, where <b>the turnout was an appallingly low 44 per cent, even lower than in 2004,</b> the turnout elsewhere was good. With 51 seats at stake, the saffron party turned the tables on the Congress. It coasted ahead, taking as many as 17 in Bangalore alone, out of a total of 28. The rise in food prices and stability, two traditional and time-tested Congress party planks, passed over to its adversary.

<b>In the rural hinterland, similar issues worked well.</b> The manifestos of the two parties were strikingly similar. What helped was that Yeddyurappa as the finance minister in the 20-month-long coalition had reduced the farm loan rate. Credit was ready for farmers at 4 per cent, about half the rate of inflation. To add to this, there was the promise of free power. Milk producers were told they would get two rupees more per litre.

<b>The Janata Dal (Secular) had both its clothes and its dreams stolen. It got reduced eventually to a rump, fighting to save face in Mysore and the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Its votes dropped just a bit, but it lost its prized position of the last four years as king-maker and deal-breaker. </b>H.D. Kumaraswamy and his brother, H.D. Revanna, are here to stay, but they will have to rethink their strategy. <b>More seriously, the Congress is yet to ask what went wrong.</b> S.M. Krishna, who ran the state for five years, was quick to voice his disappointment with the way the campaign unfolded. But the rot goes deeper still. The party did not quite get its act together. Faced with a highly professional adversary that had smelled victory, it was found to be slow, flat-footed and tired.

<b>The Congress’s tactics, as in Gujarat, of bringing in dissident leaders of other parties backfired.</b> Even when, as in the case of Siddaramiah, they won their own seats, the mood of distrust between them and grizzled veteran loyalists did not make for good chemistry. <b>In fact, the Congress’s hopes of a revival rest on a patient re-building of its core constituency of the poor and the under-classes. Even in Bangalore, the hopes of the middle class from the new government are sky high while the prosaic fact is that delivery is difficult in this state because of the multiple fissures in society.</b>

It is this systemic crisis that will be the real challenge for the new government.<b> In the Eighties, Hegde proved far-sighted enough to develop Bangalore’s ring road. In association with the Centre, he also gave land for a technology park which later evolved into a software park. Decentralized governance also made headway. Since then, except for the brief Deve Gowda period from 1994-96, the state as a whole has not seen much by way of government initiative. The contrast, in both urban and rural areas, with Tamil Nadu is striking. Blessed with lower levels of disparity and excellent natural resources, Karnataka could and should have been a pace setter.</b>

How B.S. Yeddyurappa delivers will be critical for him, his party and the country. If the BJP has gained in morale, the Congress has an opportunity to relearn its politics. The future will not wait, and the big electoral battles of 2009 are but less than a year away.

The author teaches history at the University of Delhi
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[Guest]

Lot of heart burn in commie forums and blogs. Now they are calling for Liberation of Kerala before BJP captures Kerala.