BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa admitted results are disappointing
The Congress received some much-needed good news today from Karnataka, where it has won two of the three state assembly seats that were decided today. The big coup for the Congress has been its appropriation of an important BJP borough - Rural Bellary, the rich and graft-ridden heart of mining in the state.
(Track the latest updates)Though the Congress won the state election last year, evicting the BJP, it took only nine of the 28 seats in the national election in May. So today's victory is a major shot in the arm for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Congress retained the constituency of Chikkodi and won Rural Bellary; the BJP won the third by-election to the state legislature from Shikaripur in Shimoga, a major prestige point because it was the constituency of senior leader BS Yeddyurappa. After Mr Yeddyurappa was elected to parliament in May, his son, BY Raghavendra, was picked as the BJP candidate for the state assembly. He won by a margin of about 6,000 votes, which his father admitted was disappointing.
However, Mr Yeddyurappa said that today's results should not be seen as any sort of referendum on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(Also Read: Lalu-Nitish Take on BJP in Bihar Today in Crucial By-Elections) "We did not name him much during the campaign here...so this is not about the Modi factor," said Mr Yeddyurappa, who has a complicated relationship with the BJP.
He was Chief Minister of Karnataka when he was forced by the BJP to resign in 2011 over corruption allegations. He set up his own party in a sulk, then returned to the mother ship before the national election this year.
In that same election, the BJP had won the Lok Sabha seat of Bellary, with its candidate B Sriramulu getting elected to parliament. Mr Sriramulu had also quit and rejoined the BJP before the national election.
After today, the parliamentary seat from Bellary lies with the BJP and the assembly seat with the Congress.
The three Karnataka by-elections were necessary because the lawmakers from these constituencies contested and won May's national election and have become parliamentarians.