Yedi reigns supreme as BJP sweeps Karnataka bypolls

Bengaluru: The ruling BJP on Monday swept the Assembly bypolls in Karnataka winning 12 of the 15 seats to help the four-month-old Yediyurappa government retain majority, in a morale booster for the saffron party after its recent setback in Maharashtra.

The BJP sweep had an immediate fallout in the Opposition Congress with its Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quitting their posts.

The Congress' poor showing winning only two seats, as against the 12 it held of the 15 which went to the bypolls, threw the state unit into a turmoil. The bypolls were held on December 5.

Citing "unsatisfactory results", the two leaders tendered their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and took moral responsibility for the party's drubbing.

The bypolls were considered a litmus test for the BJP government as it needed to win at least six of the 15 seats at stake to remain in majority in the 225-member Assembly. Congress ally JD(S) drew a blank.

The BJP's tally goes up from 105 (including an Independent) to 117, which is well ahead of the halfway mark of 111 in the 223-member Assembly (two seats-- Maski and R R Nagar-- are vacant due to pending litigation in the High Court).

Turncoats had a field day as 11 of the 13 in the fray after joining the BJP emerged victorious, as the ruling party's gamble to field the defectors from the Congress and the JD(S) who helped them come to power paid off.

The BJP's emphatic win also echoed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll rallies in Jharkhand where he accused the Congress and its allies of "stealing and subverting" people's mandate in Karnataka last year.

The Congress managed to win only Hunsur and Shivajinagar seats, while Independent candidate Sharath Bachegowda, who was earlier expelled from the BJP for anti-party activities after he contested the by-poll as a rebel, won in Hoskote.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) that had won three seats in the previous elections--K R Pete, Mahalakshmi Layout and Hunsur-- drew a blank.

The by-polls were held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel |Congress and JD(S) MLAs, whose revolt led to the collapse of the 14-month-old H D

Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.