Congress wins Karnataka's RR Nagar assembly seat, says victory is 'befitting reply to BJP drama'

NEW DELHI: The Congress today beat the JD(S) and the BJP to win the RR Nagar assembly seat following the poll that was held on Monday. This constituency didn't see Assembly polls on May 12 along with the rest of Karnataka. Voting here was rescheduled for May 28, after 9,567 electoral photo identity cards were found in a flat in Jalahalli on May 9, three days before the state went to polls. "Glad that RR Nagar constituents have given BJP a befitting reply for their lies&midnight drama. BJP, you may have succeeded in countermanding the election but failed to win the trust of the people," tweeted Congress spokeswoman Priyanka Chaturvedi, about the win for Congress candidate Munirathna. "Congrats to Munirathna @INCIndia candidate on winning the #RRNagar #bypolls by a huge margin. People of #Bengaluru have recognised the work done by @siddaramaiah govt. Out of 27 now we've won 14," tweeted the Congress's Gundu Rao. Both Chaturvedi and Rao are referring to the high drama that followed the May 15 Karnataka poll results. As the party with the most - but not a majority of seats - the BJP was invited to form the government and BS Yeddyurappa (BSY) even took the oath as chief minister. His tenure was short-lived as he resigned after the Supreme Court advanced the date for BSY to prove his majority in the floor of the house. In fact, BSY resigned on the very day the trust vote was set for. After this, the Congress-JD(S)combine staked claim, formed the government - with the JD(S)'s HD Kumaraswamy as chief minister - and then proved its majority on the floor of the House. This ended a farcical drama that lasted as long as 10 days. For the RR Nagar bypoll, the contest was among the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S). The latter two fielded separate candidates, despite coming together to form the government in the state after no single party got a majority in results declared on May 15. The result today is being seen as an indication of how the JD(S)-Congress coalition government is expected to function in the months to come, even as post-government formation wrangling has begun on how to carve up the various ministries. The Congress deputy chief minister of Karnataka, G Parameshwara, gave credit for the RR Nagar victory to previous Congress chief minister Siddaramaiah. Source: Times of India