The BJP’s choice of candidates coupled with poor handling of rebellion led to the saffron party losing eight Lok Sabha seats that it had won five years ago. The BJP has lost all five seats in Kalyana Karnataka, apart from Davangere, Chikkodi and Chamarajanagar seats.
A senior BJP functionary noted that the state BJP unit, despite receiving poor feedback from its prominent leaders in Bidar, fielded Bhagawant Khuba.
Likewise in Davangere, former MLA M P Renukacharya, Ravindra and others raised objections to the candidacy of G M Siddeshwara, but the party chose to ignore the warning signs here too and submissively fielded Siddeshwara’s wife.
In Chikkodi, the BJP failed to suppress the rebellion raised by former MP Ramesh Katti, who was a strong aspirant for the party ticket. This apart, Jarkiholi brothers in BJP camp - Ramesh and Balachandra - did not show much interest in campaigning for Annasaheb
Jolle.
“Balachandra went to an extent saying that they were not campaigning for Jolle as the latter had not invited them. Neither the party nor any leaders took objections to issuing such statements. Besides this, influential Lingayat leader Prabhakar Kore, who is sulking over missing Rajay Sabha ticket, also was not visible. These factors went against the party,” the source from Belagavi told DH.
The story was no different in Raichur and Koppal where the party faced rebellion. In Gulbarga, AICC president M Mallikarjun Kharge’s emotional speech, coupled with anti-incumbency against BJP MP Umesh Jadhav, ensured the Congress wrested its ‘citadel’ from the BJP.
In Chamarajanagar, the saffron party ignored the late BJP MP V Srinivas Prasad’s plea to issue a ticket to his son-in-law, the party took the decision to field a little known face, which eventually proved costly.
“Srinivas Prasad was a prominent Dalit leader in Chamarajnagar. Despite his disliking for Siddaramaiah, the leader buried his hatchet with him ahead of the polls. He stayed away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Mysuru the same week, sending a subtle message to his supporters,” the BJP source in Mysuru told DH.