In gift-rich council elections, Congress on top with 13 seats

Bengaluru: The Congress turned up a creditable performance in the legislative council elections, bagging 13 of the 25 seats. The BJP had to settle for a single-digit victory tally of six in the results announced on Wednesday .The JD(S) won four seats and independents two.
The elections saw a free flow of allurements -smartphones, tablets, and costly Kancheevaram saris, besides cash -from the parties to the voters (members of municipal and panchayat bodies).The parties cited the lack of any ceiling on expenditure to justify their largesse.
The results have not significantly altered the strength of the three parties in the 75-member house. The Congress and BJP will have 29 members each, the JD(S) 11, and independents five. Chairman DH Shankaramurthy is a BJP member. The Congress had hoped to bag 15-18 seats, and the BJP 15.
Observers view the results as a huge setback to the BJP, coming after its failure to rule the BBMP council despite being the single largest party.
The BJP had planned to cash in on the rebellion in the Congress during ticket distribution. Opposition leader in the legislative council, KS Eshwarappa, had announced he would resign from public life if the Congress bagged one seat more than the BJP.Soon after the results, the former deputy CM did a flip-flop by saying since chief minister Siddaramaiah had not accepted his challenge, the statement is not valid now.
Interestingly , the BJP lost in Shivamogga, the home district of former CM BS Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa. The former, a BJP national vicepresident, was looking to make a comeback to Karnataka politics after the council polls. The Congress breached the BJP bastion with its candidate, R Prasanna Kumar, pushing the BJP's RK Siddaramanna to the third spot. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's JD(S), which is facing dissent from the second-line leadership, suffered reverses too. It lost in Gowda's home district, Hassan, to MS Gopalaswamy of the Congress.Minister A Manju, who had promised a Congress victory , said this is the beginning of the JD(S) downslide in Hassan.
But the JD(S) can draw comfort from its wins in Mandya and Kolar. Infighting in Mandya, and the rivalry between Kolar MP KH Muniyappa and Chikkaballapur MP M Veerappa Moily, dented Congress prospects in the two districts. Congress rebels Dayanand Reddy (Bengaluru Urban), K Jayaprakash He gde and Harikrishna Bantwal (Dakshina Kannada) didn't make any impact. They had been expelled after they defied the party and remained in the fray .
Of the two independents, Vivek Rao Patil, who won from the Belagavi double constituency , is expected to join the Congress.The other independent winner is former MP Basannagouda Patil (Yetnal) whom the BJP had expelled.