Bengaluru/Tumkuru: A visibly elated Karnataka BJP leader and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s son, B.Y. Vijayendra, said on Tuesday that the BJP will turn a new page on November 10 by winning the Sira seat by a margin of 20,000 votes.
Bypolls to two seats in Karnataka — Sira in Tumkuru district and RR Nagara in Bengaluru — were held on Tuesday. The counting of votes will take place on November 10.
Speaking to reporters in Tumkuru, Vijayendra conceded that BJP winning in Sira was considered by many to be a distant dream, including their own party members.
“We are going to wrest this seat from JD(S) with more than 20,000 votes. When I came here about 10 days ago, the scene was entirely different. None had taken the BJP seriously here,” he said and added that now the electorate of Sira themselves are sure of BJP’s victory, which is a big achievement in itself.
Sira had never witnessed triangular contest in the last 20 years of its electoral history as it is considered to be the stronghold of JD(S) and Congress and had always witnessed straight fight between these two parties.
This is the first time, after Vijayndra’s entry, that the poll dynamics are perceived to be changed as he is considered to be one of the next gen leaders in the BJP.
Ace political strategist and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda campaigning hard for 10 days in a row in Sira speaks volumes about the JD(S) attaching importance to this seat.
Gowda along with his sons and JD(S) leaders, H.D. Kumarswamy and H.D. Revanna, and his grandson and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna campaigned here for almost 10 days in a row, while leaving RR Nagara at the responsibility of Nikhil Kumarswamy.
Even during the polling, Gowda stayed put in Madhugiri, a bordering constituency, from where he monitored the poll day activities instead of returning to Bengaluru.
Congress candidate Jayachandra, himself a veteran leader, had camped in the constituency ever since he lost the elections in 2018, and urged the people to elect him one last time.
Prior to Vijayendra’s entry, it was strongly speculated that the JD(S) and the BJP had cut underhand deals to ensure that JD(S) would lend its support in RR Nagara while the BJP would help the JD(S) in Sira. But all these speculation apparently turned upside down once Vijayendra entered the scene.
