BJP opens maiden account in Vokkaliga bastion of Mandya
Bengaluru, Dec 9: The ruling BJP in Karnataka on Monday scripted history by recording its first ever win in the Vokkaliga bastion of Mandya district.
It was also a dream come true for Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
The Amit Shah-led party also opened its account in Chikkaballapura and Gokak assembly segments in the December five bypolls, the results of which were declared on Monday.
BJP candidate Narayana Gowda defeated B L Devaraj of JDS by over 9,700 votes in K R Pete of Mandya district, that has been dominated by Congress and JD(S) for decades, and BJP had no presence.
Gowda is one among the three disqualified JD(S) legislators who the BJP had fielded as its candidate in the bypolls.
Taking special interest in ensuring BJP's victory in K R Pete under which his birth place Bookanakere comes, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had deputed his son B Y Vijayendra to oversee the election-related activities in the constituency.
"It gives me an immense pleasure that Narayana Gowda has won from KR Pete.
It is the same place where my village Bookanakere is located and where I was born, but we had never won the election.I congratulate him," Yediyurappa told reporters here.
Celebrating Gowda's victory, BJP state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said, "In certain regions such as KR Pete and Chikkaballapura, BJP had never won the election.
Mandya had been the JD(S) citadel, but today he (Narayana Gowda) has brought us victory from there".
In the 2018 Assembly elections, the JD(S) had won all the eight assembly segments in Mandya district with a substantial population of the dominant Vokkaliga community.
Despite losing Mandya Lok Sabha seat in the bypolls in November 2018, BJP had made significant inroads in the district for the first time, with party candidate Siddaramaiah, a political greenhorn and former civil servant securing 2,44,404 votes, its best performance there.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP supported independent candidate actor-turned politician Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandaya by not fielding its candidate, who eventually defeated Congress-JD(S) joint candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
With K Sudhakar's victory from Chikkaballapura, BJP has opened its account in the constituency.
Sudhakar, a two-time Congress MLA from the constituency, won the bypolls on a BJP ticket against M Anjanappa of Congress by a margin of 34,801 votes.
In Gokak, that saw a battle between the Jarkiholi brothers, Ramesh Jarkiholi of BJP by defeating his brother Lakhan from Congress by a margin of 29,006 votes, has ensured the first ever victory for the saffron party there.
Ramesh, who had represented Gokak five times in the assembly on a Congress ticket, this time contested as a BJP candidate
Both Sudhakar and Ramesh are among 13 disqualified legislators whom the BJP had fielded as its candidates in the bypolls.
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Hearing in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi postponed till March 27
Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): Hearing in the defamation case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, which was scheduled to take place on Monday at the MP-MLA Court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district, could not take place due to the non-appearance of the plaintiff Vijay Mishra.
The court will now hear this matter on March 27.
Santosh Kumar Pandey, the advocate of the plaintiff, on Monday said that he had submitted a formal application to the court during the previous hearing.
This application requested that the audio and video recordings of the statements made by Rahul Gandhi, which have been presented as evidence, be matched with Rahul Gandhi's authentic voice.
Due to Vijay Mishra's absence, the court has scheduled the next hearing for March 27, when the arguments in the case will be presented.
On February 20, Gandhi, the MP from Raebareli, had appeared before the court and recorded his statement, claiming the case was filed against him due to political vendetta. He had also told the court that the audio and video evidence submitted by the complainant was incorrect and said he would present his own evidence.
The case stems from Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign.
Following the remarks, Mishra, a resident of Hanumanganj under Kotwali Dehat police station area in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint.
In December 2023, the court had issued a warrant against Gandhi after he failed to appear before it. He later surrendered before the court in February 2024 and was granted bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
