The clean sweep by the ruling Congress in this month’s bypolls in Channapatna , Shiggaon and Sandur assembly constituencies in Karnataka , could not have come at a better time for the beleaguered Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

He was plagued by controversies , starting with charges of irregularity in the allotment of prime sites to his wife in Mysuru followed by allegations of minority appeasement .

If this was not enough, the Rs 91 crores scam in the Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation and the confusion over reported withdrawal of “welfare guarantees,” had put him on the backfoot.

To that extent, the ruling party was a trifle diffident about the outcome of the bypolls, even though the results would not have affected the brute majority that it enjoys in the assembly. This, notwithstanding the brave face that it presented while campaigning, trying desperately to ward off the offensive mounted by the BJP-JDS combine under NDA..

Especially, as the opposition had mounted an aggressive campaign against the government’s perceived encouragement of the Waqf Board to “ usurp” farmers’ lands. The multi crore scam was another issue that had rattled the ruling party which was even forced to sack B.Nagendra , the minister concerned.

For Siddaramaiah personally, and the Congress party the clean sweep in the bypolls, came as a pleasant surprise, even though a few party leaders could not help rubbing their eyes in disbelief at the unexpected outcome.

More so , as new charges of corruption were surfacing every day against the government, including the blatant irregularities in the Excise department . The Wine Merchants Association ,in particular ,had hit the streets over the harassment by the department ,much to the glee of the opposition.

Despite the clean sweep , however, the chief minister also knows that he cannot escape the repeated pressure from the Lokayukta and the Special Investigation Team . The two bodies are looking into the alleged irregularities in the grant of prime sites to his wife in Mysuru by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority.

Therefore, he will have to continue this fight even as the opposition remains determined to keep up the pressure.

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For now though the Congress cannot suppress its excitement over what has been a special win for the party in Channapatna. Its candidate,C.P.Yogeshwara, a recent turncoat from the BJP, pipped Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the grandson of former Prime Minister,Deve Gowda, to the post. In the process he dented the image of Nikhil’s father and former chief minister and current Union Minister for Heavy Industries, H.D.Kumaraswamy. The JD-S leader and Central minister had vacated the assembly seat, post his appointment in the Narendra Modi government.

Significantly, Yogeshwara, the former BJP leader, was keen to contest the Channapatna seat, believing that he had enough clout in the Vokkaliga dominated constituency. The state BJP also encouraged him to take on the Congress. Kumaraswamy, however, spoiled the show for them by insisting on nominating Nikhil, instead. Ultimately, the local BJP leaders had to succumb to pressure from their central leadership, leaving the seat for its ally.

This forced an angry Yogeshwara to join the Congress which was only too willing to

accommodate him as its candidate in Channapatna, knowing full well the clout he wielded in the constituency.

The arrangement also suited Deputy Chief Minister,D.K.Shivakumar, and his brother, D.K.Suresh, the uncrowned kings of the Rural Bengaluru Parliamentary constituency. The brothers were waiting for an opportunity to humble the BJP ,whose candidate Dr. C. Manjunath, had defeated Suresh , the incumbent Congress MP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls . The well known cardiologist and son –in –law of Deve Gowda,was keen to fight on a JDS ticket but the NDA leaders in Delhi had decided otherwise.

In fact, Yogeshwara’ s win in the Channapatna bypoll came as a body blow to the JD-S as it is the third successive loss for debutant Nikhil who has been trying to get a foothold in politics. Earlier, he had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mandya and the 2023 assembly elections from Ramnagara.

Predictably, Nikhil’s loss has also raised uncomfortable questions about the relevance and the political future of the otherwise powerful Gowda family. Already, former JDS leader C.. Ibrahim has asserted that several senior politicians and workers from his old party are waiting to join the Congress, worried as they are about the survival of the Gowda- run party.

Incidentally, the BJP too, on its part, is concerned over its failure to at least retain Shiggaon, the family turf of the Bommai family, considering that the Congress candidate,Y.Pathan, helped the party to regain the constituency, after 1994, by defeating Bharat, son of former chief minister, Basvaraj Bommai .

In Sandur as well, the Congress was pleasantly surprised with the outcome ,considering that Janardhan Reddy, BJP’s mining baron from Bellary,had put all his weight behind the party candidate, Bangaru Hanamanthu.

Despite Reddy’s support and backing, the BJP failed to wrest the seat from the Congress whose candidate, Annapoorna Tukaram,wife of party MP , E.Tukaram,won the constituency with ease.. The Congress Parliamentarian had vacated his assembly seat after winning the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The defeat in Shiggaon and Sandur, in particular, has highlighted the problems that the BJP is facing internally. For too long now, the party has been desperately trying to put its house in order, desperately hoping to curb the growing dissent over the control exercised by former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, and his son, B Vijayendra, who is the current state unit chief.

Clearly, the BJP is worried over the growing discontent with leaders like B.Yatnal ,leading the dissenters. In fact, a worried Vijayendra even wrote a letter to the party cadres to remain united in fighting “the corrupt Congress government.” He was equally firm in stating that the defeat in the three bye-elections would not deter his party from exposing the ruling party’s” misuse of power and maladministration.”

The seriousness of the conflict within the BJP got highlighted further with Yeddyurappa hitting out at the rebels . Admitting that a section of the party did not see eye to eye with the state leadership ,while seeking to chart out its own path, the BJP stalwart warned that the central leadership had already been alerted about the current situation.

Yatnal, on his part, remains defiant ,making it clear that he does not care about Vijayendra and his leadership. In fact, he has asserted that unless the party brings about a change in the state leadership, presently dominated by the Yeddyurappa family, the BJP will have no future in Karnataka.

Predictably, these developments in the opposition camp have heartened the Congress leaders, especially as they had found it difficult to stomach the party’s comparatively poor performance in the Parliamentary polls of 2024.

For now though, the party has not stopped celebrating its resounding success in the recent bypolls while acknowledging the contribution and support of the minorities and the backward sections ,in particular, for its wins.

In the 224 --member Karnataka assembly, the Congress now has 138 MLAs with the BJP at 66 while the JDS accounts for a mere 18 seats. The Congress under Siddaramaiah, therefore, could not have been better placed in the state today. EOM

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