BJP candidate for Chamaraja Assembly constituency in Mysuru L. Nagendra attributed his loss in the recent elections to the poor performance of JD(S) and the guarantees held forth by the Congress party.
Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Tuesday, Mr. Nagendra said he lost in the 2023 elections even though he had polled about 17,000 votes more than he secured in the 2018 elections when he had won.
Mr. Nagendra had polled 68,837 votes in 2023 against the 51,600 votes he secured during the 2018 elections.
He said the reason for his loss was the poor performance of the JD(S) in 2023 elections. Unlike the 26,500 votes secured by the JD(S) candidate in the 2018 elections K.S. Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Mysore, the party candidate polled only about 4,500 votes in 2023, he said. “BJP has lost because JD(S) secured very less votes.”
In addition, he said the guarantees held forth by the Congress may have helped their party candidate K. Harish Gowda to win. However, he expressed scepticism over the implementation of the promises made by Congress party. He claimed that similar promises made by the party in three others States had not been implemented.
Mr. Nagendra said he would urge the Congress government to implement pre-poll promises.
He said he had started a series of developmental works in the constituency during his term as MLA and urged his successor to continue the work. Even though he had carried out developmental work worth more than ₹950 crore, he had to accept the people’s verdict, he said.
He took potshots at the Congress for its inability to decide its Chief Minister even though the party had won 135 seats in the Assembly.
He also alleged that there had been instances of trouble after the Congress victory and alleged that BJP workers had been threatened.
Mr. Nagendra said he would like to thank all the voters of the constituency and the party workers, who had campaigned hard in the elections.
