LS polls: how BJP lost out in Chitradurga constituency

It should have been an easy victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency, Janardhana Swamy, who is known to practice clean politics. But he lost to B.N. Chandrappa of the Congress despite the ‘Modi wave’ that swept the nation.

According to party sources, Mr. Swamy was the only Bhovi MP in the country in the 15th Lok Sabha. It was after 30 years, since G.Y. Krishnan from Kolar was elected to the seventh Lok Sabha, that the Bhovi community had its MP. Unfortunately, the community failed to understand the importance of retaining him, and the community votes were divided after the Janata Dal (Secular) fielded Gulihatti Shekhar from the same community.

Apart from this, mismanagement during electioneering by the district unit of the BJP delayed the decision on the party candidate. The failure of the party and the candidate in systematically mobilising the workforce also contributed to his defeat.

That aside, another aspirant for BJP ticket, M. Chandrappa, former MLA from Holalkere, did not campaign wholeheartedly for the success of Mr. Swamy.

The 68,905 votes secured by Mr. Swamy in the Holalkere Assembly segment was due to anti-incumbency against MLA and district in-charge Minister H. Anjaneya. BJP leaders and party workers failed to utilise similar situations in the other Assembly segments in the constituency, sources said.

“While all the five Congress legislators campaigned together for the success of their candidate, utter confusion prevailed in the BJP camp. Both the party and the candidate failed to mobilise the youth force that was influenced by the Modi factor,” sources said.

Clean-handed

Mr. Swamy was considered fair as he had liberally released the MPLAD funds for the construction of schoolrooms and community halls in the constituency. The fact that he did not nurture middlemen and had direct contact with thousands of voters was forgotten by the electorate, on the ground that he did not personally visit the villages before and during the elections, sources said. Sources also said Mr. Swamy had pursued speedy sanction of the much-sought-after Davangere-Chitradurga-Tumkur railway line and removal of hurdles in the implementation of the Upper Bhadra irrigation project.