Karnataka Cong fails to impress in neighbouring Maharashtra

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

In the euphoria of the three by-election victories of the Congress in Karnataka, what was lost was that the party leaders from the state had little to show for their efforts in neighbouring Maharashtra. Bidar, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts in Karnataka border Nanded, Latur, Dharashiv, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Sindhudurg districts in Maharashtra. The idea was to woo Kannada- speaking populations in the state. Leaders from the border districts including the like of Industries Minister MB Patil were involved in the campaign in the neighbouring state.

In fact, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Deputy and Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar became involved in the poll efforts in Maharashtra, especially after the November 13 by-elections in Karnataka. Maharashtra went to polls on November 20. Given the scarcity of time, the Grand Old Party’s Karnataka unit narrowed their focus on districts such as Sangli and Nanded. Siddaramaiah threw his weight behind Congress Jat candidate Vikram Sawant and party ticket holder in Mukhed Hanumantha Rao Patil. However, both candidates lost to BJP contestants.

Saffron party man Gopichand Padakar won Jat while BJP candidate Tushar Govindrao Rathod emerged victorious in Mukhed. The only silver lining was that while in Mukhed, the CM also called upon voters to cast their ballot for Congress candidate Nanded Lok Sabha candidate Ravindra Chauhan, who won his bout against BJP man Sankutrao Marutrao Hambarde. “We suffered a big setback in Maharashtra. I was there for two days and campaigned in four constituencies. Have any of them even won?” Siddaramaiah jokingly asked his aides at the Vidhana Soudha press conference in Bengaluru on Saturday.

“ The lack of effectiveness of Karnataka Congress in Maharashtra is to be seen in the larger context of poor performance of the party in the Marathi-speaking state. Congress finished with an abysmal 16 Assembly seats put of 102 contested. Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Shiv Sena Uddhav Bal Thackeray (SSUBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCPSP) finished with 20 and 10 seats respectively.