Garbage rotting on Bangalore roads
A sense of the change in political winds in Karnataka is also evident with how Bangalore has voted. The state capital, which hugely favoured the BJP last time with hopes of development, chose to ignore it. (
Read: Highlights of the Karnataka election results)
The Congress narrowly went past the BJP, bagging 13 of the 28 seats in the urban areas of Bangalore. The outgoing party won one less - 12. In the 2008 elections, the BJP had bagged 17 seats, riding on the back of a "sympathy factor" after the JD(S) refused to hand over power to the former, reneging on its promise on the coalition.
The results are significant in that the BJP clearly failed to win the metropolis' support despite roping in star campaigner Narendra Modi who addressed a massive rally in the city just a week ahead of the polls.
Mr Modi's development mantra clearly failed to cut ice with Bangaloreans who have been dealing with a nightmarish infrastructure and the infamous garbage menace that made headlines last year. The BJP which leads the city's civic body has failed to tackle the crisis on the solid waste disposal front - huge mounds of putrefying garbage piled across the streets in the city, leaving residents to deal with the stink.
The party's promise to the youth of an extended night life in the city, if it was voted back to power, has also failed to impress. The BJP which had been opposing growing demands for a longer night life in Bangalore, had said it will allow bars to serve liquor till midnight and eating joints to remain open till 1 am. At present, closing time for both is 11.30 pm.