Chairperson of D. Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation Raghu Kautilya, who was the BJP candidate in the recently-held elections to the dual-member Legislative Council seat from Mysuru-Chamarajanagar local bodies constituency, has denied that his partymen sabotaged his chances of winning.
He told reporters in Mysuru on Friday that he was owning the blame for his loss. Though all the party leaders and workers of both the districts toiled for his success, he was unable to sail through, he said.
Earlier, former Minister and BJP MLC A.H. Vishwanath had alleged that a few BJP leaders had sabotaged the chances of Mr. Raghu. He also claimed that a few BJP leaders in the region had worked as ‘agents’ of JD(S), leading to the loss.
But, Mr. Raghu sought to clarify that former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Minister in charge of Mysuru district S.T. Somashekar, MPs V. Srinivas Prasad and Pratap Simha, besides party MLAs and party leaders of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts had all worked for him. This was his second successive loss in the elections to the Legislative Council from the constituency.
He said he would not blame any BJP leader for it.
However, Mr. Raghu did not rule out the possibility of a hidden understanding between Congress and JD(S) in the elections. Even though the two parties appear to be rivals, a “hidden understanding” between them may have been responsible for his loss, he said.
He said he was not aware of how Mr. Vishwanath was accusing the BJP leaders of sabotaging his chances.
Even though he was disillusioned by electoral politics, Mr. Raghu said he will continue in active politics and serve the party. He admitted that he was pained by the loss as he was looking forward to entering the Legislative Council by polling enough first preferential votes.
It may be mentioned here that Congress party’s D. Thimmiah and JD (S) candidate C.N. Manje Gowda were declared elected after Mr. Raghu Kautilya, who secured the second highest first-preferential votes, was eliminated during the subsequent rounds of counting of preferential votes.
