BENGALURU: In an emphatic endorsement of Karnataka’s ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition by the voters, its candidates Tuesday won both the assembly constituencies and two of the three Lok Sabha seats in the bitterly fought by-polls held on Saturday.
The by-elections came as a major setback for the main opposition BJP ahead of the 2019 elections with the party losing the Ballari Lok Sabha seat, considered a stronghold of the controversial mining barons — the Reddy brothers.
Mine-rich Ballari, over which the brothers once had a vice-like grip, had remained a BJP stronghold since 2004.
V S Ugrappa of the Congress won the Ballari seat by a margin of more than 2.43 lakh votes defeating BJP’s J Shantha, the sister of B Sriramulu, a key aide of the Reddys and former MP from there.
Sriramulu is considered a close confidant of Janardhana Reddy, but the BJP had distanced itself from the mining baron in the May assembly polls.
In Shivamogga, the pocket borough of the leader of the Opposition and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, his son B Y Raghavendra trounced his JD(S) rival Madhu Bangarappa by 52,148 votes in a closely-fought contest.
Madhu is the son of former Congress chief minister, the late S Bangarappa. (AGENCIES)
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