In Hebbal by-poll animosity between Congress old guard and outsiders comes to the fore

Bengaluru, Feb 17: It was 2:1 in favour of the BJP in Karnataka. The BJP won the seats at Hebbal, Devadurga and lost at Bidar to the Congress. Among the three constituencies which went to polls, the most keenly watched was the one at Hebbal, Bengaluru.

The BJP's Y Narayanasamy beat Rehman Sharif of the Congress to take the Hebbal seat. While the BJP is all smiles to take this high profile constituency which it had held, for the Congress there are bound to be some worries ahead.

Lessons for the Congress:

The Hebbal seat was a keenly contested one within the Congress. Siddaramaiah had wanted to field Byrathi Suresh but was outdone by the old guard. The old guard in the Congress managed to coax the high command and field Rehman Sharif, the grandson of C K Jaffer Sharif, former Railway Minister of India.

The Karnataka CM, Siddaramaiah may be quite pleased with this result as he was overpowered by the old guard, but there are bound to be some problems for him. In the wake of this defeat at Hebbal, a section of the old guard is likely to blame Siddaramaiah for this defeat.

There were already murmurs during the campaign that Siddaramaiah was not doing enough to ensure a victory at Hebbal.

The defeat at Hebbal for the Congress is a mixture of various factors. First and foremost many in the constituency were unhappy with the administration of the party especially in the city.

Secondly the defeat was a result of the animosity between the old guard and the outsiders in the party. Siddaramaiah is still considered by many as an outsider.

However, for now what would worry the Congress the most is the upcoming elections to the Zilla Parishad and Taluk Panchayat scheduled to be held on February 20th. The Congress would hope that the pattern of voting during the by-elections does not reflect in the polling during the ZP/TP polls.

OneIndia News