From Our Special Correspondent 

Daijiworld Media Network 

Bengaluru, Dec 3: The post-poll debacle in Maharashtra after the collapse of the former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP and NCP government with Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister will not have any impact on the outcome of the 15 by-elections to the assembly constituencies in Karnataka going to polls on December 5, said senior BJP leader S M Krishna on Tuesday.         

Boosting the BJP campaign in the Vokkaliga dominated areas in the State, which are witnessing by-elections following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the disqualifications of the 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs ordered by the former Speaker of the State Assembly K R Ramesh Kumar, the former Congress Chief Minister turned BJP leader said the situation in Karnataka was totally different from that of Maharashtra.   

“There is no comparison with Maharashtra, where several turncoats who joined BJP before the recent assembly polls were defeated,’’ he said pointing out that the ‘disgruntled’ Congress and JD(S) MLAs resigned from their respective parties for wholly different reasons. 

“What can be said of Maharashtra need not be said of Karnataka. Our state is a different political entity. Here the question is of a stable government and respecting the mandate of the people,” he said. 

Krishna said the victory of BJP in the 15 by-polls will ensure a stable government and thereby provide an undisturbed development trajectory in the state. 

The senior BJP leader S M Krishna, who spoke to media on Tuesday, said BJP has 105 legislators in the assembly and enjoys the support of one independent MLA, taking its strength to 106. 

“The BJP needs to win at least six seats to ensure simple majority in the house,’’ he said expressed confidence that the B S Yediyurappa government will deliver the goods.         

He said the people of Karnataka were fed up with the bitter experience of directionless government for 14 months and 17 MLAs realised the development aspirations of the people could not be met by the H D Kumaraswamycoalition government prompting them to resign and join BJP.

He, however, said the State needs a stable government ridding us of dependence on any outside forces to put the state back on the development track. “So we appeal the people to vote us in the by-polls,’’ he said. 

Krishna campaigned for the party on the last day of campaigning for the December 5 by-polls. He has recently campaigned in Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru.  

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Congress leader Siddaramaiah and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and all other leaders of the three parties and the candidates carried on the campaign, which ends tonight.         

The BJP leader clarified that he played a very small role in the recent spree of resignations of Congress and JD(S) MLAs and the eventual fall of the Kumaraswamy-led coalition regime. 

“There are many of my old followers and friends in Congress. They visit me regularly to enquire of my well-being. They were politically confused. In the interests of the state, we discussed many things including the need to pull down the then government,” he said.  

“But is wooing MLAs and pulling down a government ethical?,’’ he asked and explained: “The mandate of the people in the 2018 assembly polls was for BJP, which was subverted by an post-poll hasty alliance of Congress and JD(S). It is thanks to the 17 MLAs the state is rid of a directionless government, we need to be thankful to them and ensure their victory,” he said. 

On the question of whether they will be able to find their space in the saffron party, he quipped: “I have come from an entirely different political culture and am now working in BJP without any problem.’’