2013: A mixed bag for Karnataka

A tectonic political shift that brought the Congress back to power dismantling the BJP's first-ever government in the South topped the variegated developments during 2013 in Karnataka.
The year also saw the usual quota of bitter wrangle on Cauvery water sharing between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, bomb blast near BJP headquarters here and the passing away of legendary playback singers P B Srinivas and Manna Dey.
On the corporate front, the country's IT capital saw the grand re-entry of N R Narayana Murthy as Chairman of Infosys two years after his retirement in a bid to revive its fortunes and take it back to its halcyon days of glory.

As the year 2013 was ushered in, political turbulence continued in the state with the BJP government becoming more shaky as the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar faced unending troubles from B S Yeddyurappa whose supporters in the ruling party made him spend sleepless nights.
Twelve MLAs backing Yeddyurappa resigned from the BJP and threw in their lot with Yeddyurappa to topple the precarious Shettar government in January.
The number of rebels began to swell with Yeddyurappa going on the offensive to rope in more MLAs with the crisis continuing to keep the chequered regime of BJP on razor's edge till the end of its term.

As the Assembly elections neared, the writing on the wall for the BJP was clear - that its days were numbered as an anti-incumbency atmosphere became more and more palpable with political instability and corruption charges tainting the government's image.
Elections came in May and the electorate handed out a clear and decisive mandate voting the Congress back to power with 121 seats in the 224-member Assembly and pushing BJP to the third spot.
Yeddyurappa's KJP chipped away BJP's votes share, garnering 10 per cent of the votes polled but only managing to win six seats. It, however, had the consolation of teaching a lesson to BJP, which won only 40 seats, down from 110 secured in 2008.