Mallikarjun Kharge proves his sway in Hyderabad-Karnataka, but Cong fails to repeat its assembly show in Mumbai-Karnataka

The 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.

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 year.

The grand old party, however, could not make any significant gains in Mumbai-Karnataka, winning just one out of the seven seats in the region.

Comprising seven districts – Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Vijaypura, Uttara Kannada, and Bagalkot – Mumbai-Karnataka has traditionally favoured the BJP. The Lingayat-dominated region had voted in the Congress in the assembly polls last year. The party had won 33 out of 50 assembly seats in the region, riding on the anger against the saffron party that had neglected local Lingayat leaders when it came to ticket distribution.

The BJP, however, seems to have learned from its mistakes, having fielded heavyweights from the community like former chief ministers Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai in the seats the party had lost last year. The Congress on the other hand took a risky gamble and failed, fielding newcomers in the hope that the internal rivalry in the BJP would work to its advantage.