Bengaluru: The BJP leadership may have known it all along they were heading for a drubbing in Karnataka.
Obviously, in order to overshadow the Congress’s resurgence happening at grassroots, the BJP leadership carried out a deafening campaign.
On the eve of counting, the BJP expressed hope of winning at least 120 seats, despite exit-polls predicted a flimsy margin for the Congress.
But the congress surged back to power winning records seats alongside bettering its vote share with 42.9 per cent from previous 40.84 per cent.
The whopping 137 seats the party won are reminiscent of 132 seats it had won back in 1999 during its heydays.
The BJP’s strength has dwindled to 65 seats along an emaciated 36 per cent vote share, leaving the party to do some soul-searching.
The BJP camp is reeling from the impact of the poll debacle, while rival camps are pointing at the failure of Modi magic.
One observer earlier said no matter the BJP wins or loses the polls, the talking point will be Modi, given the fact that he led the campaign.
Modi as usual pumped loads of energy into the campaign adding fizz to it, galvanizing the BJP workers in the state.
However, he failed to stir up the voters outside the BJP, alongside gravely failing to take note of the people’s issues as reflected in surveys.
One survey found poverty and unemployment causing major concern to the rural voters, whose cries seemed to have fallen in deaf ears.
On political front, the BJP leadership did not expect that the Yediyurappa factor could fly in the face of the party.
The marginalization of the towering leader, who as one columnist for NDTV observed, ‘built up the BJP from scratch’ since1989, appeared to be not happy about the situation in the state BJP.
The state’s powerful Lingayat community too was unhappy over how its major vocal leader was treated without giving him any active role.
Obviously, Lingayat voters have not taken kindly to the BJP which is reflected in BJP’s loss in central Karnataka—the bastion of Lingayat votes.
Adding to the dissatisfaction of the community came dropping of the former Chief minister Jagdish Shettar.
Still more, Lingayat leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman was denied the seat, further frustrating the community.
Perhaps, the BJP’s central leadership had no grasp of the grassroots situation of community equations in Karnataka.
They were quite out of touch with reality when they sought to ‘reinvent’ the party cushioning itself on Modi factor.
The BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai proved to be not inspiring chief minister, according to an NDTV columnist.
On the other hand, the Congress worked at the grassroots taking up real issues without giving in to the BJP’s pull.
Its campaigning as reports showed focused mainly in rural areas discussing issues that concerned the rural life giving the party an edge.
The victory comes to Congress just as the party is looking for a momentum to face the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.