BJP set to sweep in Karnataka,leaves ruling coalition in tizzy

Reflecting the coalition's plight, while Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge in Gulbarga trails and former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda  got defeated in Tumkur, Election Commission trends showed.

With the BJP dealing a hammer blow, Congress and JD(S) managed to win only one seat each, indicating that neither arithmetic nor chemistry worked for the two, which apparently failed to reconcile with each other at the ground level.

Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh, supported by the BJP, was leading by 1,26,436 votes in Mandya in a fiercely fought battle against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil.

87-year old Gowda was trailing by a margin of 12,387 votes in Tumkur against BJP's G S Basavaraj.

Gowda's another grandson Prajwal Revanna,son of minister H D Revanna defeated A Manju of the BJP by 1,41,324 votes in Hassan.

Gowda had shifted to Tumkur from his traditional bastion Hassan to make way for his grandson.

Kharge, a veteran Congressman, who has never tasted electoral defeat, was trailing by 95,168 votes against BJP's Umesh Jadhav, who resigned as MLA and joined the saffron party ahead of the elections.

Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily faced defeat against BJP candidate B N Bache Gowda in Chikkaballapur by 1,82,110 votes.

Seven time MP from Kolar K H Muniyappa was trailing against BJP candidate by a margin of 2,09,707 votes.

Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North) was leading against his Congress rival by a huge margin, his colleagues Ramesh Jigajinagi (Bijapur) and Anant Kumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada) won their respective seats by a margin of 2,58,038 and 4,79,649 votes, respectively.

Other BJP candidates who won are Devendrappa(Bellary), Bhagwanth Khuba (Bidar), Nalin Kumar Kateel(Dakshina Kannada), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad),C S Udasi (Haveri), Karadi Snaganna (Koppal).

State BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra (Shimoga) also won in Shimoga defeating his nearest rival Congress' Madhu Bangarappa by a huge margin of 2,33,360 votes.

Among leading BJP candidates are Annasaheb Jolle (Chikkodi),Tejavi Surya (Bangalore South), A Narayanaswamy (Chitradurga), G M Siddeshwar (Davangere), P C Mohan (Bangalore Central), Prathap Simha (Mysore), Muniswamy (Kolar), Gaddigoudar Parvatagouda Chandanagouda (Bagalkot) and Suresh Angadi (Belgaum).

The Lok Sabha poll outcome is widely expected to have a bearing on the stability of the one-year old H D Kumaraswamy government, which has been bogged down by inner contradictions within the coalition, keeping the state in political turmoil.

The coalition government is also living in constant fear of losing the support of its MLAs, against BJP's alleged bid to topple the government.

BJP has been claiming that 20 MLAs within the ruling coalition were ready to jump ship post the Lok Sabha poll outcome, which has put the government on the edge and made it struggle to keep its flock in tact.

Under the seat sharing arrangement,Congress had contested in 20 constituencies and JDS in seven.

Calling the Lok Sabha election results "unexpected", Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said leaders of his party JD(S) and Congress would deliberate on the reasons behind the defeat in the election.

Kumaraswamy conceded defeat and said he respected the mandate of the people.

"Leaders of both parties of coalition will hold a discussion about the loss of JDS-Congress coalition candidates.

"Our party has seen many victories & losses over the years and party workers need not lose heart on this loss.

Let us strive to strengthen the party in the days ahead," the Chief Minister tweeted.

He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for emerging victorious for the second time saying that he respected the mandate of the people.