Indira’s Chikmagalur embraces Hegde

DHNS

• Historical victory for Congress, BJP loses face

 

Chikmagalur, 21 Mar 2012: The electorates have given their verdict over the prestigious Chikmagalur-Udupi Lok Sabha poll and as per political pundits it is the victory of ‘person and personality’ more than the party.

 

The Congressmen who have waited for 21 long years for this day are in an adrenaline rush and ecstasy is seen in each and every Congress partyworker.

 

It was in 1978 that former prime minister Indira Gandhi contested in the first by-election from Chikmagalur. Even then it was a prestige issue for the Congress because it was the torchbearer of Nehru-Gandhi family who was on a look out for new lease of life for her political career.

 

She won and Chikmagalur went into the pages of history with Gandhi’s victory.

 

After constant defeats in the past four general elections, Chikmagalur soon came to be known as the fort of BJP. However, this by polls, Congress has managed to gate crash into this fort in a big way.

 

Barring Chikmagalur assembly constituency, BJP has seen set back in remaining three assembly constituencies- Mudigere, Sringeri and Tarikere. What is startling is the fact that BJP could not win the confidence of the voters despite having its rule in all the Assembly constituencies in the district and at all local governing levels too.

 

The BJP loyalists hold internal differences and confusions in the party as the main reason for the unforgettable defeat. There is silence in almost every office of the defeated parties and each and every party worker is now pondering over the reason for this defeat.

 

While the rejoicing party workers of the Congress who are proud of their national-level leaders say that Veerappa Moily, S M Krishna, Mallikarjuna Kharge, K H Muniyappa and all other leaders who had come down to Chikmagalur to stand by the candidate can proudly meet the AICC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who had sent them to Chikmagalur for a mission.

 

For Congress, the victory of 1991, in favour of D K Taradevi was the last victory. Later B L Shankar had won over the constituency on JD(S) ticket. In 1998, 1999 and 2004 elections D C Srikantappa bagged the seat for BJP. In 2004 D V Sadananda Gowda won from this seat. When D V Sadananda Gowda resigned from the post of the MP as he had to take over the charge as the Chief Minister, a by-election was called for.

 

Celebration starts

The Congress party workers did not wait for the results to be declared. When Jayaprakash Hegde maintained a lead during four to five rounds of counting in the morning, the party workers came out on streets and celebrated the victory by bursting crackers. Hanumanthappa circle, which has about 100 people dancing joyously were joined by thousands within no time.

 

Clean personality

Many say that it is the Mr Clean image of Jayaprakash Hegde along with compassion factor (as he had lost last time) that worked in his favour.

 

However, when it comes to BJP, JD(S) fielding candidate this by polls and absence of B S Yeddyurappa on campaigning front are said to be the reasons for the defeat along with the political crisis prevailing at the state. Further many say that Congress had a concrete political strategy this time.

 

They had evidently told the voters that JD(S) and BJP had joined hands with each other and the sole aim of JD(S) fielding candidate was to make BJP candidate victorious. It may be learnt that even after facing defeat in the last polls, Jayaprakash Hegde was frequently seen in Chikmagalur interacting with the local farmers, assessing their problems and making it heard at the Centre.

 

Many say that this frequent interaction and mixing with people from various walks of life too contributed largely to Hegde’s victory. If one dissects the vote statistics, it is clear that JD(S) has bagged more votes constituency wise when compared to BJP.

 

What is worth mentioning is the confidence of Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hegde who had forwarded his bio-data to all the newspaper offices, indicating that he was cent per cent sure of his victory this time!

 

Votes bagged by 14 candidates

Jayaprakash Hegde (Congress) - 3,98,723
Sunil Kumar (BJP) - 3,52,999
S L Bhoje Gowda (JD(S) )- 72,080
K Bharatesh (JD(U)) - 4,945
K Chandrashekar (National Democratic Party) - 3,640
Asadulla Katapadi (Independent) - 1,491
Deepak Rajesh Coelho (Independent) - 1,429
Riyaz (Independent) - 921
Venkatesh N (Independent) - 1,064
Sridhar Pedemane (Independent) - 1,377
Srinivas Poojary (Independent) - 3,293
Suresh Poojary (Independent) - 2,177
Hari Shanbhogue Kateel- (Independent) - 6,930
K Jayaprakash Hegde Kokkarne (Independent) - 1,755