Cong-JDS trounces BJP 4-1 in K'taka bypolls; BJP loses Ballari LS seat

Karnataka's ruling JD(S)-Congress alliance Tuesday won a crucial endorsement trouncing the BJP 4-1 in by-elections for three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats with the victory in Ballari ending the saffron rival's 14-year vice-like grip on this parliamentary constituency.

The victories with huge margins came as a Diwali gift and a shot in the arm for the nearly six-month-old alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls after facing frequent questions about its longevity.

The alliance led by JD(S) leader and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy won Ballari and Mandya Lok Sabha seats as well as both the Assembly seats--Ramanagara and Jamkhandi. Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha won from Ramanagara, near Bangalore.

It was a sort for consolation win for the BJP when it managed to hold on to the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat.

BJP had held the Shivamogga and Ballari Lok Sabha seats and JDS Mandya while Congress won Jamkhandi and JDS Ramanagara in the May 12 assembly polls.

The BJP suffered an embarrassing reverse in the mine-rich district of Ballari, a seat it had been winning since 2004 on the back of the clout enjoyed by the controversial Reddy brothers.

Buoyed by the victories in the bypolls which were seen as a barometer of the public mood, Kumaraswamy and Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao asserted they would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls together against the BJP.

"We will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together. As we did this time, we will sit together to chalk out strategies to fight the polls in a coordinated manner," Kumaraswamy told a news conference.

Gundu Rao on his part said, "It (the electorate) has rejected the BJP, its divisive politics and dictatorial tendencies. We will contest the 2019 election together.

"Look at the margins... It's clear that people are fed up with the BJP. This anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-women government at the Centre must go."