Congress-JD(S) unity crushes ‘Republic of Ballari’ in bypoll

BENGALURU: The ‘Republic of Ballari’ — a term given in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining under mining czar G Janardhana Reddy and his confidant, BJP MLA B Sreeramulu — has crumbled with Congress regaining the Lok Sabha seat after 14 years in the Karnataka bypolls, the results of which were declared on Tuesday.


It was an equally poised contest for both Congress-JD(S) combine nominee VS Ugrappa and BJP’s J Shantha (Sreeramulu’s sister), where caste and candidates were secondary, with Ballari being a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Tribes.

The outcome has established the political supremacy of Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar, who was in charge of the Congress campaign. While Shivakumar descended on the district with ministers and party functionaries, Sreeramulu became the lone ranger with hardly any support from the party. Reddy has been banned by the Supreme Court from entering the Ballari district.

Besides, Reddy’s insensitive remark that the death of former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s son Rakesh was “God’s punishment for separating him (Reddy) from his children and putting him in jail” caused embarrassment to BJP. State unit president B S Yeddyurappa had to ask Reddy to apologise for the remark.

Significantly, Shivakumar, known for his organising skills during poll campaigns, apologised for the then Siddaramaiah government evincing interest in the Lingayats’ demand for a separate identity and recommending a religious minority tag to them. This was one of the factors behind the defeat of Lingayat ministers in the Siddaramaiah government in the assembly polls.

According to political analysts, the strategy worked as Ballari district has a large Lingayat population, who are said to have voted for the party in this bypoll. BJP losing the seat which it had held since 2004 demonstrated the fact that Sreeramulu, considered as a leader of the Valmiki (ST) community, cannot single handedly deliver victory to the party. In previous polls, he had the support of the Reddys and BJP.

The Ballari defeat has shaken the BJP leaders who had taken it for granted that it had become their bastion. The victory for Congress has sent across the message that the party which was divided in the district can deliver results if they sink their differences.