‘Free this and free that, and the voters had been with them.’
IMAGE: Karnataka chief-minister designate Siddaramaiah, proper, and state deputy CM-designate D Ok Shivakumar, left with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, May 19, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo
A Manjunath has been within the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and is now with the Janata Dal-Secular. So he is aware of the nook and cranny of each get together and the way they operate.
He won the 1999 meeting election as a BJP candidate, as a Congress candidate in 2008 and 2013. He was a minister beneath then chief minister Siddaramaiah in 2013.
He misplaced the 2023 election in spite of polling 82,811 votes as a Janata Dal-Secular candidate from Magadi constituency, which the Congress won because it swept the state.
“The Muslim vote was earlier with the JD-S. Now they’ve shifted to the Congress,” Manjunath tells Rediff.com‘s A Ganesh Nadar.
Sir, you’ve gotten been within the BJP, Congress and JD-S, you realize all of the events and in addition the folks of Karnataka very effectively. Tell us why the BJP misplaced so badly.
There are three causes that the BJP misplaced. First was the ticket distribution. They didn’t give tickets to the fitting candidates.
Second was anti-incumbency. The third and essential cause was (B S) Yediyurappa.
If Yediyurappa was there, the Lingayats would have voted for the BJP.
Without him, that vote financial institution was transferred to the Congress.
Another cause is that the BJP would not have any robust native chief.
Why did Narendra D Modi and Amit A Shah’s roadshows don’t have any impact?
The solely place the roadshows had any impact was Old Mysuru. The JD-S misplaced there because of these roadshows.
In spite of dropping the state the BJP did win in coastal Karnataka and Bengaluru. Why?
In coastal Karnataka and Bengaluru, the Muslims voted en masse for the Congress.
In reverse polariation, the Hindus voted for the BJP. A part of the Hindu vote went to the Congress additionally.
The JD-S has a former prime minister in H D Deve Gowda and a two-time chief minister in his son H D Kumaraswamy and but in each elections its quantity of MLAs goes down. Why?
The Muslim vote was earlier with the JD-S. Now they’ve shifted to the Congress.
The Congress won the elections because of their promise of freebies.
Free this and free that, and the voters had been with them.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com