Mallikarjun Kharge proves his sway in Hyderabad-Karnataka, but Cong fails to repeat its assembly show in Mumbai-Karnataka
Congress party, which had routed the BJP from the Lingayat bastion of Mumbai-Karnataka in the assembly polls last year, failed to recreate the magic in the Lok Sabha elections, winning just one out of seven seats in the region. Hyderabad-Karnataka, however, proved to be a different story, with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge's home ground faithfully voting in his party in all its five seats.
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The seven districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region – Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, and Vijaynagar – which make up five Lok Sabha seats, had been a Congress stronghold till 2004. The BJP began to make inroads in 2009 and riding on the Modi-factor, managed to sweep all the seats in the 2019 polls.
This time around, Kharge's extensive campaigning in the region seems to have worked to the Congress’ advantage. The leader, who had lost the polls in 2019, had emotionally appealed to the people to attend his funeral if they didn’t avenge his defeat.
The Congress also sought votes for its work in getting a special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka under the Article 371(J), which helped the region's youth get a quota in college admissions and government jobs. Positioning itself as a champion of public welfare, the party promised more guarantees like those that helped it win the assembly polls last
