Thaindian News

Koppal, Sep 29 (IANS) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday won the bypoll for the assembly seat from this north Karnataka town, immediately sparking a wrangle in the state unit over credit for the victory.

BJP’s Karadi Sanganna polled 60,405 votes to 47,917 of K. Basavaraj Hitnal of the Congress. Janata Dal-Secular’s (JD-S) Pradeep Patil was way behind with 20,719 votes, a spokesperson for the state election office told reporters here.

Eleven Independents lost their security deposits.

The bypoll, held Sep 26 in this town about 300 km from Bangalore, was necessitated by Sanganna, who had won from here as JD-S candidate in the 2008 assembly elections, quitting the house and the party to join BJP in March this year.

Immediately after the results were out, leaders of the dissension-ridden state BJP spoke in different voices over who should get the credit for the victory.

“It is a victory of the collective leadership,” state BJP president K.S. Eshwarappa told reporters in New Delhi where he is to attend a party meeting.

In Bangalore, Home Minister R. Ashoka too credited the victory to “collective leadership”.

However, his ministerial colleague M.P. Renukacharaya dismissed the talk of collective leadership.

“What collective leadership? I am telling you categorically this is victory of (former chief minister B.S.) Yeddyurappa’s leadership,” asserted Renukacharya, who handles the excise portfolio.

Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who succeeded Yeddyurappa Aug 4, tried to steer clear of the raging controversy.

“Koppal’s people have responded positively to our party government’s development work in the last three years, to the contribution of Yeddyurappa and our sincerity in keeping our promises to the people,” Gowda told reporters in Kolar, about 80 km from Bangalore.

Yedduyurappa, who had tried in vain to be officially declared as the leader under whom the BJP will fight the Koppal bypoll, declined to answer questions on the issue.

However, he told reporters in Bangalore that the victory was due to his government’s work and party members hard work.

The Congress, which has been faring poorly in all polls since it lost power in 2004, said BJP had won Koppal with “money power”.

“We accept the verdict of the Koppal electorate. But we must say that BJP won using money power,” state Congress chief G. Parameshwara said in Bangalore.

With the Koppal victory, the BJP has 121 members, including the speaker, in the 225-seat house that has one nominated member. It has the support of one Independent.

The Congress has 71 members and the JD-S 26. There are five more Independents.