Master strategy helped Congress

SHIMOGA: It was a hard-fought victory for BJP national vice-president BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra, in Shikaripur. Yeddyurappa’s one-time associate and Congress candidate HS Shanthaveerappa Gowda finally conceded ground by a slender margin of 6,430 words. The election was necessitated by Yeddyurappa’s resignation after his election as Shimoga MP in April 2014.In 2013, Yeddyurappa had won against Shanthaveerappa Gowda by over 60,000 votes.
It should come as a scare to the BJP strongman who admitted he wasn’t happy with the victory margin. “I’m happy we won. But I thought the margin would be higher than last year’s,’’ he said. From 1983 to 2013, Yeddyurappa was elected seven times from Shikaripur, losing just once in 1999.
This time, the Congress did not leave any stone unturned. Chief minister Siddaramaiah had met local JD(S) leader HT Baligar to convince him to lend support. In 2013, Baligar had bagged 26,000 votes. Two days prior to the election, former minister Goolihatti Shekhar, in the fray as an independent, withdrew from the contest to support the Congress, but all these efforts were insufficient to beat the BJP.