In a major setback to the ruling Congress Government in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained the civic polls by securing 100 wards out of total 198. The BJP needed another three seats to achieve simple majority figure of 103. The Congress got 76 seats, JD(S) 14 and Independents cornered eight wards. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hailed the party’s victory.
Even though Congress improved its tally from 2010, the results of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is likely to impact the Siddaramaiah Government as he was the one who led the party’s campaign along with his five Cabinet Ministers — Ramalinga Reddy, KJ George, Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Roshan Baig. Siddaramaiah owned moral responsibility for the Congress’ defeat and said he would strive hard to develop the IT city.
“I own the responsibility for the party’s defeat. Our calculations have failed. We could not succeed in creating awareness among the voters about the implementation of various schemes and projects launched for development of the city after coming to power in May 2013,” Siddaramaiah said.
He reiterated that it was not a referendum on the performance of his Government. “Issues in the elections to lok Sabha, Assembly and local body are different and today’s result is not the reflection on the performance of the Government despite the fact that we had put forth our future programmes for BBMP and had released a ‘vision document’. We had even revealed the wrongdoings of the BJP during its rule,” he added.
The crucial civic body win in a Congress-ruled State resulted in BJP president Amit Shah making an unscheduled visit to the city to share the joy of victory with party workers and leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the BJP’s winning show in the Bengaluru civic polls.
“People’s continuous faith in the BJP is humbling and gladdening,” Modi tweeted as results showed the BJP ahead of the Congress in the election. “We are fully committed to fulfilling (the) aspirations of 125 crore Indians,” he said. The PM said after similar civic polls wins in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Bengaluru results “complete a hat-trick of wins for the BJP. This is a win for politics of development and good governance”.
“Thank you Bengaluru! My gratitude to (the) people and congratulations to Karnataka BJP leaders and workers for the great election results,” he added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitey said, “Mindless negativity is counterproductive. This is the electorate’s message to the Congress after MP, Rajasthan and Bengaluru civic elections.” While Parliamentray Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said this result was a lesson for all those engaging in negative politics.
“This is the first time in 30 years that the incumbent party has won the BBMP elections. These results are a rejection of the Congress as a party in Karnataka and India,” Union Minister and BJP leader Ananth Kumar said, adding, “This is a fitting reply to the anti-BJP propaganda of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”