Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)
Bangalore, Oct 4: Peeved at the loss its candidate, Basavaraj Hitnal, suffered against BJP candidate, Sanganna Karadi at the recently concluded bypoll at Koppal constituency, the Congress high command has sought a report on the same from Madhusudan Mistry, in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka.
The top leadership of Congress party perhaps wants to conduct a post mortem on the entire election process and hunt for specific reasons which caused the downfall of its candidate. As per the party’s estimate, the climate was favourable for it, as the morale of the BJP was low because of corruption charges, Reddy brothers, and exist of former Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa. JDS also had lost its stronghold, as its MLA, Sanganna Karadi, had resigned from the party and contested on a BJP ticket.
In all likelihood, state leaders of the party will be summoned to New Delhi after the Dasara celebrations, to get feedback from them personally as to what went wrong with the party’s prospects. Although the state leaders have blamed the BJP of diverting state’s funds to Koppal and spending huge sums to woo the voters, the national leadership of the party seems to be not in a mood to buy this theory. Reportedly, it has received complaints from various quarters that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Dr G Parameshwar, has been giving more importance to the turncoats who came into the party from elsewhere recently, to the detriment of original Congress activists.
In normal course, a note about causes of losses is prepared by either the KPCC president or opposition leader in the assembly, and sent to the party leaders. The high command’s action in seeking a report from the party’s state in-charge is a clear indication that it has taken the defeat in all seriousness, although it is just an assembly bypoll.
It is said that the original Congressmen are angry at the fact that the party has chosen Mahima Patel, former JDS leader who joined Congress party recently, as the convener for the ‘Chintana-Manthana’, a programme relating to the newly introduced ‘interaction with voters’ programme undertaken by the party towards gaining popularity in the state.