All is not well in Mysore Congress

Let alone the Modi wave, what appears to have contributed to the defeat of sitting MP A H Viswanath was the Congress’s lackluster campaign in Mysore.

This becomes obvious from the statements of Viswanath and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in New Delhi, at the weekend.

Responding to a question if invisible hands were also a cause for his defeat at a press meet, Viswanath went to the extent of admitting “visible hands” itself working against the party.

“Our own men stabbed us. Insiders themselves caused the defeat. They betrayed our trust. Instead of blaming invisible hands, visible hands too betrayed the party. Those elements should be rooted out. Those who have come from outside should not be allowed to destroy the party. The party needs to be united from the lower level.” He, however, gave a clean chit to the legislators.

As though supporting his anguish, Siddaramaiah is reported to have expressed a similar opinion and apprised party bosses that leaders of a particular section let down the Congress in the state. The action of some leaders in setting up Dalits in Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and other constituencies came in the way of winning around 15 seats.

A look at the constituency-wise results of Mysore-Kodagu gives credence to the ire of the leaders against a section of their own leaders. Besides the two constituencies of Kodagu where BJP has a strong-hold, even Krishnaraja and Chamaraja constituencies in Mysore, which are represented by Congress MLAs, have contributed significantly for the victory of BJP’s Pratap Simha, a political neophyte, who managed to hit the jackpot in just around 25 days.

Votes polled by Congress and BJP is as follows: Madikeri (56,713 – 81,666), Virajpet (59,866 – 77,611), Krishnaraja (44,481 – 79,684) and Chamaraja (40,151 – 73,572).

Surprisingly even Congress stronghold Chamundeswari gave only a slender 5,200-vote lead to the party (Cong 65,194 – BJP 59,965). Though Hunsur, (Cong: 64,990 – BJP 48,092), Periyapatna (Cong 56,458 – BJP 37,101) and Narasimharaja (Cong 75,492 – BJP 39,974) brought substatntial votes, it was wiped out by the above four constituencies that went with BJP.   

Though, Krishnaraja Congress MLA M K Somasekhar campaigned actively, the party leaders failed to reach out to the predominant Brahmin and other major communities in these Krishnaraja and Chamaraja constituencies. Their concentration was chiefly on the backward classes and others as blamed by Siddaramaiah himself.

Added to the failure of Congress ranks, the “secret pact’ of Janata Dal (S) with BJP, as also alleged by Viswanath, was another major factor that resulted in defeat. This allegation gains credence when one looks at Assembly-wise votes polled. JD(S) scored the lowest in Virajpet (Kodagu), Chamaraja and Narasimharaja, 4,205; 4,657 and 8,603 respectively.

According to a local JD(S) leader, a prominent district leader of the party had advised his men to work for Simha as he was a Vokkaliga, instead of JD(S) candidate Justice Chandrasekharaiah.

This becomes obvious by the fewer votes than during the Assembly polls from the eight constituencies.